GREENVILLE — Darke County Sheriff Toby Spencer will retire from the department at the end of October, ending a 47-year career with the sheriff’s office.
Spencer’s retirement will take effect Oct. 31. He spent the last 28 years as Sheriff in the county after he was elected to eight terms by Darke County voters, Chief Deputy Mark Whittaker said in a media release Friday.
Spencer cited personal and some professional reasons for announcing his retirement and has asked the county board of commissioners to appoint Whittaker as the interim Sheriff.
“I would highly recommend you immediately appoint Chief Deputy Mark Whittaker, as interim Sheriff, until he can be officially appointed by the Central Committee to fulfill my unexpired term,” Spencer said in his resignation letter.
“Sheriff Spencer is retiring and leaving the Sheriff’s Office for personal reasons that have taken a toll on his life in the past couple of years. Also there are some professional reasons that Sheriff Spencer believes is not conducive to allow him to do his job that he was elected to do,” Whittaker said.
In December 2020, Spencer’s son Chase was killed in a crash on state Route 503 in Preble County.
>>West Elkton man, son of Darke County Sheriff, killed in Preble County crash
“I truly am a blessed man to have served the wonderful citizens and great Darke County, Ohio,” Spencer said in the media release.
“I was elected to serve and protect the citizens of Darke County, unfortunately, under the courts of Darke County, the only ones that are protected are those that continue to offend and continually break the law. There is no accountability for those that prey on our society.”
Additional details were not released.
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