Candidate’S Background Doesn’T Check Ex-Boss Says Would-Be Bonner Sheriff Never Made Captain’S Rank

If Maurice “J.R.” Banks was captain in the Medina County, Ohio, sheriff’s department, he didn’t make a very big impression.

Banks, the Democratic candidate for Bonner County sheriff, has claimed at candidate forums that he was a captain in the Medina County Sheriff’s Department, overseeing 185 people in the 1980s, including the detectives’ bureau.

He said he left the department in 1990, but later said it was closer to 1985.

But a senior officer in Medina County, Lt. Dave Baker, said Banks only served as a deputy. Banks’ former supervisor also doesn’t recall Banks ever achieving the rank of captain, except as a volunteer with the mounted police unit.

“Junior worked for me,” said Ralph Stanley, a retired Medina County sheriff’s sergeant. “Banks was never in charge of detectives.”

The Medina County Sheriff’s Department cannot find Banks’ personnel file, but did recall him leaving the department in the mid-‘80s.

Despite what his former colleagues say, Banks insists he was a captain - and not just of the mounted patrol. He said a former sheriff could have confirmed that, if he were still alive.

“I had powers of a captain of all things,” he said. He started with the Medina County Sheriff’s Department as a reserve deputy and later was hired as a regular deputy. He said he was promoted from sergeant to captain.

Banks left the county in the mid-‘80s to work for the Lagrange, Ohio, police department, where he worked until May 1985, according to the Lagrange City Police.

He said his law enforcement career started in Lorain County, Ohio, but a personnel clerk there could find no record of Banks in a list of officers dating to the 1950s.

Banks insists he was employed there, as well, and said he is sorry his past is being questioned: “I’m not a dirty politics man. All I want to do is serve this county and do what’s right.”

Banks is running against three other candidates in the race for sheriff, two of whom have greater law enforcement experience.

Dave Morgan, an independent candidate, spent 27 years with the Kitsap County Sheriff’s Department, retiring as an inspector overseeing the detective’s bureau.

Phil Jarvis, a Republican, has 33 years of law enforcement experience with the San Diego Police Department, where he achieved rank of captain and commanded the department’s southern area.

Don Parkison, an independent candidate, has no law enforcement background.