County commissioner now under investigation for possibly growing pot

Athens County Prosecutor Keller Blackburn has asked for and gotten a special prosecutor appointed from the Ohio Attorney General's office to look into allegations that marijuana plants were found last month growing near the Millfield home of Athens County Commissioner Mark Sullivan.

Sullivan on Sunday flatly denied that he was growing marijuana.

"No, heavens no," the commissioner said. He claimed he was "flabbergasted" when he first heard his wife's allegations that marijuana was being grown on or near her property and dried inside the house.

Blackburn confirmed Friday that the AG's office has agreed to provide a special prosecutor to look into the case. He said that because Sullivan, like Blackburn, is a Democratic elected county official, Blackburn wanted to avoid any hint of a conflict of interest in the case.

"In fairness to Mr. Sullivan, I think it's better that someone on the outside should look at it," Blackburn explained.

The Athens Messengerhas already called for Sullivan to step down as commissioner, citing his recent legal problems as well as an incident last September in which he was arrested and spent a night in jail for allegedly being drunk and disorderly at a Nelsonville bar.

Sullivan suggested Sunday he's not ready to quit as a commissioner. "You know, if I did something wrong, I would," he said. While he takes responsibility for poor judgment in an arrest for intoxication, he said, he hasn't committed domestic violence, as his wife has alleged, or grown marijuana at his home.

Blackburn said that on July 20, Sullivan's wife, Tammie Sullivan who has previously made allegations of domestic violence against the commissioner called the Athens County Sheriff's Office to report that pot plants were growing behind the couple's home. Reportedly, she also claimed marijuana had been dried upstairs in the home. She allegedly directed officers to the plants and also produced marijuana seeds from a vehicle. Officers seized 39 plants, according to Blackburn.

After this incident, Sullivan moved out of the Millfield home and took up residence at his mother's home in Nelsonville, where he now lives with his two children from a previous marriage.

Sullivan said Sunday that he believes his wife, who he alleged has serious psychological problems, was simply attempting to cause him harm with the allegations. Based on long-standing problems the couple has had, he said, shortly before she made the allegations, he had given her an ultimatum to seek counseling or he would file for divorce. In the past, he said, his wife had promised that if he ever tried to leave or divorce her, "she would do everything she could to cause me to lose my job, cause me to lose my children, and cause me to end up in jail or prison."

Sullivan said to his knowledge, no search warrant had been executed on his home.

The marijuana-growing allegations come several months after a March incident in which officers responded to the Millfield residence on a domestic violence call, which resulted in Mark Sullivan's being charged with domestic violence. He later pleaded guilty in Athens County Municipal Court to a reduced charge of persistent disorderly conduct, though he now insists he never assaulted his wife, and took the plea only in an attempt "to save my marriage."

In mid-July, Tammie Sullivan was granted a civil protection order against her husband after she alleged in a petition filed in Athens County Common Pleas Court that he had assaulted her and threatened her life.

She later withdrew her request for the protection order, however, saying that she and her husband merely had "communication problems" that she wanted to work out through counseling.

The July 20 call to the sheriff from Tammie Sullivan came shortly after another domestic violence complaint from her, Athens County Sheriff Pat Kelly said Friday.

"She called (our) office and said that there were marijuana plants at the residence," he reported.

Kelly, who like Blackburn and Sullivan is a Democrat in an elected office, said that while his officers did seize marijuana plants from near the Millfield residence, he does not know for sure whether the property on which they were growing belongs to Sullivan or to one of his neighbors.

"I don't know that it was on Mark Sullivan's property," the sheriff said.

No charges have been filed in connection with the plants. Both Kelly and Blackburn said they don't believe Sullivan has been given any special treatment in the case.

Kelly said that the case has "certainly" been treated the same as it would have been with any other person; he noted that both Mark and Tammie Sullivan lived at the Millfield home, potentially making either a suspect for growing the pot.

Blackburn suggested he has bent over backwards to both be fair to Sullivan, and to make clear that the commissioner is not getting any breaks from law enforcement because of his position as a county official. As soon as he learned about the allegations earlier this week, Blackburn said, "I immediately called the Attorney General's Office," asked for a special prosecutor, and got this approved by a local judge.

"I don't think there's anything to cause anyone to believe there's anything wrong with the process," he said.

Blackburn added that he doesn't believe Kelly did anything wrong in not bringing the complaint to his attention earlier.

In comments reported Sunday in The Athens Messenger, Tammie Sullivan recanted her allegations against Mark Sullivan. When contacted Sunday morning by The Athens NEWS, she promised to speak to the paper later in the day, but then did not pick up the phone at the appointed time.