Police report details allegations against acting Circleville deputy chief

CIRCLEVILLE, Ohio (WCMH) -- More details about the allegations against Acting Deputy Chief of Circleville Police Jon Farrelly emerged in a police report from Aug. 5 obtained by NBC4.

Farrelly was placed on administrative leave last week and the investigation into the deputy chief is ongoing. A report from Circleville police said officers spoke with a woman earlier this month who accused Farrelly of coming over to her house in a police cruiser and in uniform and propositioned her for sex while showing her lude photographs. The woman says this incident took place in October 2023.

“Obviously these are serious accusations, even more serious because some of the accusations say the officer that’s accused was in uniform, possibly on the clock using the police cruiser,” Circleville City Councilmember Zach Brooks said.

After the field interview, the report says officers went right to Circleville’s acting police chief and an investigation into Farrelly began.

“We have an outside agency handling the investigation just to keep everything as open and honest as possible,” Brooks said.

This is the third Circleville police leader to be put on administrative leave in the last few months. Police Chief Shawn Baer was put on leave in March, and just a few weeks later Baer’s replacement, Acting Chief Doug Davis, was also placed on leave. Both men voluntarily resigned in April and were each given around $70,000 while leaving. Brooks said he was not happy with how that situation was resolved.

“I really hope that this doesn’t result in another payout," Brooks said. "Obviously these accusations are very serious and if found guilty then we absolutely need to handle this in the way that the law sees best.”

Following these instances, Brooks said he understands why some people could lose trust in the Circleville Police Department. But he said community members should know there are a lot of good men and women working for the department and only a few who have brought scrutiny.

“If things like these continue to come up then we need to show the citizens of our community that we’re going to investigate it and make sure that if there is corruption that we get to the bottom of it and we weed it out,” Brooks said.

NBC4 reached out to the mayor of Circleville and the police department for a statement about the police report, but neither responded.