Police file suggests basis of assault charge against sheriff’s son

After Athens County Sheriff Pat Kelly's adult son, Joel Kelly, took a plea bargain earlier this month in a case in which he was charged with assaulting a man in an Athens restaurant, Sheriff Kelly assured reporters that his son is innocent of any criminal wrongdoing.

The sheriff said Joel Kelly pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of persistent disorderly conduct only because he was about to be shipped overseas with the U.S. Army, and needed to resolve the case immediately.

"The bottom line is, Joel was clearly not guilty to begin with, but he had to take a plea, because he was going overseas," the sheriff told The Athens NEWS.

Joel Kelly has claimed that alleged assault victim Joshua K. Wise, an employee of Leghorn's restaurant on East State Street, had told Kelly that he had spit into a meal Kelly ordered. Kelly says he complained about this to the restaurant manager; the restaurant ended up firing Wise.

Officers of the Athens Police Department, who investigated the case, apparently believed they had enough evidence to justify charging Joel Kelly with assaulting Wise.

This included both interviews with witnesses, and security-camera footage from Leghorn's, where Wise claims Kelly attacked him in a restroom in July 2011 .The alleged assault was not captured on tape. The Athens NEWS has obtained the police investigative file on the case, and reviewed the video evidence.

Wise first reported the alleged assault to the sheriff's department, apparently because Joel Kelly at the time was a reserve deputy.

According to Sheriff's Capt. Bryan Cooper, the sheriff's office looked into Wise's allegations as they related to possible employee misconduct, but as soon as Wise took his case to the Athens Police Department, turned over its file to that agency.

"The criminal stuff we did not touch at all," Cooper said, noting that the case was not in the sheriff's jurisdiction.

The police case file shows that Wise told officers – about two weeks after the alleged incident – that Joel Kelly had followed him into the Leghorn's restroom, come up behind him while he was using a urinal, and shoved him into the wall, dislocating one of his fingers.

In a review of the video footage, the city police noted that Kelly and another man can be seen entering the restaurant. Shortly thereafter, an employee, probably Wise, is seen to come out of the kitchen, look out into the dining room, and go back into the kitchen.

A food server then takes a meal order from Kelly and his companion. Wise later comes out of the kitchen and walks to the restroom, but "does not appear to make any gestures or even look toward Kelly's table," the file says.

In another segment, Wise can be seen passing Kelly's table, and "appears to glance" in that direction, but "does not make any gestures" toward it.

A restaurant manager brings food to the table, and Kelly and his companion begin to eat.

When Wise is seen coming out of the kitchen and heading to the restroom, "at no time does (he) look towards Kelly's table," the report says. He enters the restroom and "is followed almost immediately by Kelly." Shortly afterwards, Kelly "exits the restroom followed by Wise."

Kelly stops to talk to the restaurant manager, while Wise walks past them and returns to the kitchen.

After the visit to the restroom, Kelly returns to the table, and continues to eat his meal. "During the remaining video segments," the police report says, Kelly and the other man at his table "appear to finish their meals, then pay for the checks and leave the restaurant."

According to the police file, the restaurant manager informed Wise during the incident that "Joel Kelly is out there (in the dining room) and said you did something to his food." Wise told police that he did not tamper with Kelly's meal, and had not even known Kelly was in the restaurant until the manager told him.

Adam Bunting, the second man at Kelly's table, told police that all he could recall of the incident was that Kelly got "kinda agitated" and "kinda mad" upon spotting Wise. When Kelly saw Wise head into the restroom, Bunting said, Kelly instantly got up from his chair and "walked really fast to the bathroom" behind him.

When Kelly returned to the table, according to Bunting, Kelly stated that "I think they're spitting in my food back there," and then complained to the manager about this. Bunting also said, however, that Kelly then ate most of the food he had ordered.

In an interview with police, the restaurant manager, Jeremy Wright, told officers that Wise, after returning from the restroom, appeared "shook up," and claimed that "someone had shoved him."

Wright said that when he took food to Kelly and Bunting's table, Kelly asked him, "Did anyone do anything to this food?" and Wright told him no. Wright also said he thought Kelly was "joking around" with his question.

After Wise reported the alleged assault, Wright said, Kelly made the exact same allegation to him – claiming that Wise had just shoved him into a urinal. Wright also told police that "he knew for a fact" that "no one was around (Kelly's) food" to tamper with it, and that Wise had not been involved in preparing Kelly's meal, which was a salad.

Wright also said that he found it "odd" that a customer would allege that he was assaulted by an employee in the restroom, but then not wish to file a police report, rather than wanting to "bury the hatchet" as Kelly claimed he wished to do.