Deersville business, customers named in indictments

in Featured by Harrison News Herald — January 11, 2013 at 10:11 pm | 1 comment

By AMY GAREIS
News-Herald Staff Writer

DEERSVILLE – A longtime Deersville business and several of its customers were named among the recent crop of indictments in Harrison County for allegedly misusing public benefits.
A grand jury handed down true bills on Jan. 8 to Ferguson III and Deersville General Store, 212 W. Main St., and five people, including one of the store’s owners, for one count of fifth-degree felony illegal use of supplemental nutrition or WIC Program Benefits. The indictments also identified James T. Ferguson, 28, of 81621 Mallernee Road, Freeport; Nicole Konanec, 33, of 83375 Mallernee Road, Deersville; Robert A. Schmidt, 53, of 206 W. Main St., Deersville; former village councilwoman Paula Elliott, 47, of 112 Palmer Road, Deersville; and Sean E. Ager, 38, of 5620 County Road 58, Bergholz.
County Prosecutor Shawn Hervey alleged that the store cashed food stamps for the suspects for more than a year and costs ran into the thousands of dollars.

Read the full story, along with other grand jury indictments, in this weeks print edition of the Harrison News-Herald.