Corbin a Brady cop? Will he step down?

Is false narrative about Amanda Dean being 'alive' enough to put Huron County's embattled sheriff on the 'bad cops' list

NORWALK — Does the false narrative Huron County Sheriff Todd Corbin maintained for nearly six years that a shelter director assured him Amanda Dean was alive and safe make Corbin a Brady Cop?

It isn’t a story about a lovely lady or a man named Brady. In the world of law enforcement, a ‘Brady Cop’ is much less wholesome. A Brady Cop is a law enforcement officer with a documented history of misconduct—specifically involving untruthfulness, bias, or criminal acts—that could be used by a defense attorney to impeach their credibility as a witness. Under the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Brady v. Maryland, prosecutors are legally required to disclose this “impeachment material” to the defense.

Could Sheriff Corbin be impeached on the witness stand? Does a peach have fuzz?

• Documented False Claims: A lawsuit filed in late 2024 by Amanda Dean’s family alleges that Corbin made false claims regarding the investigation into her death to cover up a “botched” initial response to a domestic violence incident six months earlier.

• The “No Lies” Rule: In Ohio, being caught in a material lie or misrepresenting facts in an official capacity is the primary trigger for a “Brady” designation. If a court or internal investigation sustains a finding that he provided false information to the media or in reports to shield the department from scrutiny, he would be an “impeached” witness.

• Liability Risk: When an officer with a history of alleged dishonesty remains on the force without being “Brady listed,” it creates a massive legal liability for the county. Every case they touch can be overturned if the prosecutor failed to disclose that the officer has a record of untruthfulness.

Seeking (to hide) the truth

The OhioAttorney General’s office already knows the answers, but refuses to disclose what was determined. The OAG has confirmed Corbin continues to be under investigation, and it’s directly related to how he delayed the Amanda Dean homicide investigation for six years with the false narrative. What Corbin said the director told him about Amanda being alive was not possible, the state’s homicide investigation concluded, because by the time he was allegedly told this she was already dead. They know when Fred Reer killed Amanda Dean.

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Meet me in the law library?

In short, Corbin is a candidate for the list because his credibility has been legally and publicly challenged in a way that makes his future testimony a liability for any prosecution. Problem is it’s Huron County Prosecutor James Sitterly who would make the decision on a Brady Cop designation. He’s been running interference for Corbin on the Dean homicide and another botched cold case, not holding the sheriff accountable. Sitterly tried to kibosh a meeting last week between the sheriff and a grieving mother who wants an update on her daughter’s 2018 murder investigation. Sitterly told a reporter in a clandestine secret meeting that convicted podcaster Ashli Ford might pop up at the meeting.

The grieving mom, Tricia Shepard, has a pending complaint against Ford for harassment. Tricia alleges Ford is exploiting her daughter’s case, using it as clickbait to make money on social media. It remains unknown why Sitterly told a reporter that Ford might be at the meeting, or why he didn’t simply bar Ford from attending since her attendance would be a clear violation of Ohio’s victim’s rights law. As it turned out, both Sitterly and Corbin failed to attend the scheduled meeting. They left Tricia Shepard and her family in the lobby for over an hour while a dispatcher tried unsuccessfully to find them. It’s not known if they re-contacted Tricia, or rescheduled the meeting.

Tricia wants the sheriff to ask BCI to investigate her daughter’s murder, citing too many similarities with her case and how Amanda Dean’s case were handled by the sheriff. Katelynn Shepard was 21 in July 2018 when she was killed after the vehicle she was in went off the road and burst into flames. There’s no evidence the incident is an accident, according to the state’s crash report. Katelynn Shepard’s death certificate states her death was an accident, but it also fails to cite any evidence it was an accident.

He does

Sitterly, who by state law is statutory legal counsel for the sheriff, has conflicted away all his credibility as it regards Corbin. He was asked this week if Corbin has been placed on the county’s Brady List or whether the court has been informed of the current situation. Sitterly worked with the attorney general’s office prosecuting Fred Reer for murdering Amanda Dean in July 2017. He likely knows exactly what investigators determined concerning who lied about Amanda being “safe and alive” at a shelter, the false narrative the sheriff provided the community for nearly six years.

Sitterly also told the reporter in the law library “off record” that BCI would probably reject taking on Katelynn’s Shepard’s case and said the reporter should warn her mother that might happen. Both Sitterly and Corbin are refusing to ask the state crime lab, the Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI), to take over the case, and it’s unknown why Corbin thinks it would be rejected or why he doesn’t meet with Tricia to talk about her daughter’s case.

Tracy Thom, an advocate helping Tricia Shepard and her family push back against Sitterly and Corbin’s “enormous wall of obstruction,” speculated it’s because of what happened after she convinced BCI to take on the Amanda Dean investigation.

“They found that Sheriff Corbin lied for six years,” she said. “That’s what they found.”

Fading credibility

The foundation under these officials — Sitterly and Corbin — has been melting like the polar icecaps for years, since before the Sandusky Register exposed the lies about the Amanda Dean investigation. Years ago I asked Sitterly about the county’s Brady List and he refused to answer. Other prosecutors in other counties were providing their lists; it wasn’t that big a deal. But Sitterly wasn’t. Weeks went by, turned into months. But some readers, during this time, sent me old police reports about Corbin’s first cousin, (now former) Det. Sgt. Shannon Lyons, getting arrested in incidents that happened prior to when he was hired as a deputy. Lyons slipped through the cracks getting hired; the arrests would have disqualified him had they been disclosed.

We published news articles about Sitterly’s stubborn refusal to simply meet the responsibilities of his office and give us the Brady List. We published news articles about those old arrest reports, too — and other information that readers sent us after we verified it — and we continued to push Sitterly hard. It was those reports and those news articles that got the snowball rolling down the hill, perhaps, or, started melting those icecaps.

Is Corbin a Brady cop?

StayTunedSanduksy.com wrote Sitterly today asking him about Corbin. We are asking if Sheriff Corbin should be or will be placed on the county’s Brady List following Ohio BCI findings that he provided a false narrative regarding the 2017 disappearance of Amanda Dean. He stuck to that story for six years, beyond reason.

There’s only two ways, it seems, that this can go: Either Sheriff Corbin and his detectives were so fully and completely incompetent that they could not solve the simplest murder mystery of all time — look behind the door — or someone lied to delay any murder investigation and potentially stop one from ever being conducted.

Sitterly already knows who lied. He might even be able to discern who is incompetent. So too do Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost, assistant Attorney General Daniel Kasaris, Special Agent Jon Saraya, assistant attorney general Micah Ault, the sheriff, and his 10 deputies. They all know.

But for you, me, and the general public — including the families directly impacted — it’s a secret. The question we all should be asking: Why are they hiding it from the public?

Stay Tuned.