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Avon Lake Fire Department captain indicted for extortion

Posted at 4:30 PM, Jun 05, 2017
and last updated 2017-06-05 16:30:27-04

An Avon Lake Fire Department captain is on paid administrative leave after being indicted for extortion. 

Capt. Glen Eisenhardt, 41, is also facing charges of unauthorized use of property and telecommunications fraud.

According to the indictment, from about February 2016 to April 2016, Eisenhardt:

"did with purpose to obtain any valuable thing or valuable benefit or to induce another to do an unlawful act, expose or threaten to expose any matter tending to subject any person to hatred, contempt, or ridicule, or to damage any person's personal or business repute, or to impair any person's credit in violation of Section 2905,11(A)(5) of the Ohio Revised Code contrary to the form of the statute in such case made and provided and against the peace and dignity of the State of Ohio."

According to the Chronicle-Telegram, Eisenhardt was blackmailing Assistant Fire Chief Jeff Moore. The newspaper reports: 

The alleged blackmail scheme began in February 2016 when Assistant Fire Chief Jeff Moore received a letter in the mail threatening to expose an alleged extramarital relationship unless he resigned or retired from the Fire Department by March 1, 2016, according to an affidavit seeking a search warrant for Eisenhardt’s electronic devices filed last year. Read more from the Chronicle-Telegram here.

In response to News 5's request for comments on the case, the City of Avon Lake emailed this statement:

"The Lorain County Prosecutor has brought charges against a firefighter in the Avon Lake Fire Department. The City of Avon Lake fully cooperated with county and state authorities as they investigated the matter.

The firefighter will be put on administrative leave from the Avon Lake Fire Department until further notice.

As this matter is now in the court system, we are not able to discuss any further details of this issue."

After turning himself at the Lorain County Jail, Eisenhardt was released on bond.

According to The Chronicle-Telegram, Capt. Glen Eisenhardt joined the Avon Lake Fire Department in 2000. He was named the city’s fire chief in December 2011, but "asked for a demotion a year later so he could spend more time with his children."