GLENN TRUDO

The Belmont County Board of Commissioners held an emergency meeting Thursday following the arrest of a county employee.

The rare meeting was held due to Belmont County Emergency Management Agency Deputy Director Glenn Trudo being arrested Wednesday. The commissioners as a whole said that they felt that they had to hold an emergency meeting because the board had already closed its regularly scheduled meeting on Wednesday.

Trudo, 60, was listed on the Belmont County Jail roster as being held without bond. In Virginia, he faces two counts of soliciting a minor.

Belmont County Prosecutor Kevin Flanagan explained that the charge listed on the roster could be misleading. The “fugitive from justice” charge did not stem from any effort to escape or elude law enforcement; instead, it resulted from the fact that the original warrant for Trudo’s arrest was issued by another jurisdiction.

According to Flanagan, the original arrest warrant was issued by a law enforcement agency in Virginia.

Robin Lawson, public relations director for the Virginia State Police, said that agency is leading the investigation in coordination with the U.S. Secret Service.

“The investigation was part of an operation conducted by the Northern Virginia/DC Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force,” she wrote in an email.

The Belmont County Sheriff’s Office also issued a press release regarding Trudo’s arrest.

“The Sheriff’s Office was notified by federal law enforcement of an ongoing investigation involving Mr. Trudo,” the release states. “Subsequently, Belmont County Sheriff’s Detectives assisted the United States Secret Service and the Virginia State Police in executing search warrants at Mr. Trudo’s residence and place of employment.”

In response to the criminal charges against Trudo, the commissioners passed a motion to place Trudo on unpaid administrative leave.

According to ORC 124.388, “An appointing authority may, in its discretion, place an employee on administrative leave without pay for a period not to exceed two months, if the employee has been charged with a violation of law that is punishable as a felony. If the employee subsequently does not plead guilty to or is not found guilty of a felony with which the employee is charged or any other felony, the appointing authority shall pay the employee at the employee’s base rate of pay, plus interest, for the period the employee was on the unpaid administrative leave.”