Ron Brown in police custody, appears in court

Ron Brown

The would-be grant seeker accused of pocketing more than $33,000 in Putnam County animal shelter funds appeared in Putnam Circuit Court Tuesday afternoon.

Ronald Dorian Brown, 46, Indianapolis, was booked into the Putnam County Jail at 12:30 p.m. Friday on one theft charge and two counts of deception.

After spending the Labor Day weekend in jail, Brown had his initial hearing before Circuit Court Judge Matthew Headley.

The judge advised Brown of the three charges against him, which include two Level 6 felonies and one Class A misdemeanor.

Brown is charged with Level 6 felony theft, as he is accused of stealing $33,268.10 in funds that he claimed to have paid to contractors involved in restarting the shelter. Headley advised Brown that the charge could be reduced to a Class A misdemeanor.

His second Level 6 felony is deception, as Brown is accused of representing himself as the "project manager" for the animal shelter project.

The Class A misdemeanor springs from the accusation that Brown called himself an "engineer" in relation to the project.

If convicted Level 6 felony carries a sentence of six months to 2-1/2 years in jail as well as a fine of up to $10,000. A Class A misdemeanor carries a sentence of up to one year and fines as much as $5,000.

With Brown saying he understood the charges against him, Headley entered an initial not guilty plea on his behalf.

Brown told the court he had contacted an attorney who he believed was going to be in court on Tuesday. Although this did not happen, he said someone would be hired by his family.

"We will seek out an attorney," Brown said.

At the request of Prosecutor Tim Bookwalter, Headley set Brown's bond at $20,000 cash.

Under questioning from Bookwalter, Brown also told the court he had two previous criminal convictions, both in Marion County.

In one Marion County incident, Brown was sentenced to probation for theft. In an earlier incident, he was convicted for "receiving a bad money order."

Headley set a pre-trial conference for Oct. 29, however, Brown requested a bond reduction hearing.

The judge set the bond reduction hearing for Sept. 24, giving Brown enough time to hire an attorney.

The initial hearing also shed light on Brown having both Crawfordsville and Indianapolis addresses.

Brown has lived with a girlfriend in the Speedway area for several years, but he previously lived with his estranged wife and their children in Crawfordsville.

A warrant was issued for Brown on Thursday after the Putnam County Prosecutor's Office officially filed charges following a seven-month investigation by Indiana State Police.

Authorized by the county only to seek grants, Brown was never an employee of the county nor under contract. He was not officially authorized to handle money related to the shelter nor deal with the contractors.

During Tuesday morning's meeting of the Putnam County Commissioners, officials disclosed that Brown did not secure a single grant for the county or the shelter.

However, claiming to have paid the contractors himself, Brown is accused of submitting claims for work performed by the contractors, but not paying a majority of the claims to the contractors themselves.

One local contractor is also facing charges in the matter, as Ben O'Hair of O'Hair Heating and Cooling is charged with Level 6 felony theft for allegedly being paid twice for some of the work performed.

In March, the Putnam County Commissioners voted to pay the contractors the money that they had not received from Brown. However, among those claims was $5,740 to O'Hair that had allegedly already been paid.

O'Hair has been summoned to Putnam Circuit Court for a Sept. 24 initial hearing.