Keeping the peace is expensive.
That is why the Belmont County Sheriff’s Office and the Prosecutor’s Office are allotted the most each fiscal year by the county’s three commissioners, and it’s also why they established a separate six-figure budgets for the double homicide investigation and trial involving the murders of Thomas and Angela Strussion in September 2021.
According to Commissioner JP Dutton, the separate expenditure for the investigation into defendant Andrew Griffin was established about four years ago, and the Commission has included the cost of court proceedings since the Oklahoma native was extradited from Hawaii a little more than a year ago.
The 33-year-old defendant is scheduled to face capital murder charges in October after Common Pleas Court Judge Chris Berhalter granted a request for continuance filed in February by Griffin’s lawyers. Griffin became a business partner in the Strussion’s Salsa Joe’s Smokehouse business in October 2020, and he moved to the area shortly after.
The husband and wife were discovered deceased in their home after a fire was reported at their Trails End Drive home in the early morning hours of Sept. 21, 2021. Chief Detective Ryan Allar and Detective-Sgt. Jordan Blumling have served as lead investigators.
“Our investment in this case has been in four areas of county government to this point, and obviously, the Sheriff’s Department was one of the earliest to incur costs in terms of everything that was necessary for both the investigation and then bringing the accused back to Belmont County,” Dutton explained. “There was some cost to our Public Defender’s Office until the defendant was able to secure counsel, and there have been costs to the Prosecutor’s Office and to the Common Pleas Court, too.
“From this point forward, there will be possibly substantial costs as we get into the fall,” the Commissioner said. “It really depends on which direction the trial goes in. It can turn out to be very expensive with travel, hotel expenses, and things like that, but justice is the goal.”
Protect & Serve
The Belmont County Commission established a budget last year that was just over $47 million, and the most significant line item was the operation of the Sheriff’s Office and the county jail. Sheriff James Zusack and Chief Deputy Glen Moore manage more than 60 deputies, a number of civilian employees, and the lock-up that can incarcerate more than 100 males and females.
That’s why the allotment is always the largest, according to Dutton.
“If you poll county commissioners across Ohio, I believe you will hear the same is typical in all of Ohio’s 88 counties,” Dutton said. “Between 25 and 30 percent of our overall budget is for the Sheriff’s Department and the jail, and it’s always our largest expenditure.
“And then you add the remainder of the justice department on top of that,” he explained. “We do that to make sure our citizens are safe, and that our justice department is prepared, professional, and fair.”
Once detectives determined Griffin was their number one suspect, the investigation included a great deal of travel expenses for the detectives and other deputies who accompanied Griffin from Hawaii in March 2025.
That’s why the commissioners began setting aside separate funds for the investigation in 2022, and why they’ve established a budget of $250,000 for the trial itself.
“It’s been a six-figure number all along to make sure the funds were available for the investigation, and now for a fair trial,” Dutton revealed. “It is a separate budget and that was a decision that was made based on our conversation with the former sheriff, Dave Lucas, our current sheriff, James Zusack, and with our prosecutor, Kevin Flanagan.
“We discussed with our people at the Common Pleas level, too, because we wanted to get a good idea what to expect,” he explained. “Obviously, there’s no way for us to determine a final number at this time, but we have done what we can to have a good idea what to expect as far as the costs are concerned.”
For the People
During Griffin’s most recent pre-trial hearing last week, Judge Berhalter ruled that the positions of cell phone towers can be included as evidence offered by the prosecution, and that decision delivered a meaningful message to Commissioner Dutton.
“I have been very fortunate to work with our county prosecutor, Kevin Flanagan, because he is a very dedicated and passionate individual. So, when I found out the level of detail he and his office were pursuing and evaluating in this particular case, I was impressed but not surprised,” Dutton said. “That’s the type of prosecutor he is, and I believe we can expect more of that as this case moves forward.
“As a commissioner, I’m not directly with anything connected to the case, but we’ve had the conversations we have had and that was enough for us to make sure they had the funding for what I have needed to prosecute,” he continued. “This is what Mr. Flanagan and his office staff do every day, and the citizens in the county should feel fortunate.”
While Dutton is unaware of the total cost of the prosecution in the Griffin case, he acknowledges that most – if not all – residents of Belmont County are following the case daily because, the commissioner believes, they want to see justice served one way or another.
“I believe our residents need to know that Belmont County is all about conducting fair trials for everyone no matter what the charges might be, and the best way for them to learn that is to see it for themselves,” Dutton insisted. “That’s exactly what we are doing now, and that’s what the Belmont County Commission will always do.
“Granted, this trial is getting more attention than most cases in our county court system, but that’s OK,” he said. “That gives everyone a chance to show that we do things the right way in this county in a very professional manner from top to bottom.”
