SYLVANIA TOWNSHIP, Ohio — Editor's note: The video included in this report is from May, when Austin resigned from the Delta police force.
The Ohio Auditor of State has ruled that a former police officer who 11 Investigates discovered was married to two women at once must repay Sylvania Township almost $70,000 for illegally having the second wife on the township’s health plan for more than seven years.
In a letter to township trustees, Ohio Auditor Keith Faber said it has issued a Finding for Recovery against Robert Austin in the amount of $69,698.48 for inappropriately having the woman on a health care plan from Jan. 1, 2016, until May 2, 2023.
On May 14, 11 Investigates reported that Austin married Marina Ederra in Las Vegas in 2014. Their marriage license was obtained in Clark County, Nevada, on Nov. 13, 2014, and the clerk’s office confirmed they were married a day later. Multiple photos show the couple running the Las Vegas Marathon that weekend. Austin was not divorced from his first wife until six months later.
At the time of our report, Austin was the police chief for the village of Delta. After the information was provided to the village administrator, Austin was confronted with the information and immediately resigned.
11 Investigates first reported on Austin in February when we produced a series of reports on officers jumping from department to department despite disciplinary issues in their background.
Austin was hired as chief in Delta on Aug. 29. What officials did not know was that an internal Sylvania Township report recommended Austin, who was a lieutenant, be fired for a number of departmental violations. That recommendation was concealed in a separation agreement that did not allow Austin or the township to discuss the investigation.
The following statement was contained in the internal investigation:
“Due to all the facts listed in this report that documents a pattern of neglect of duty, unsatisfactory work performance, insubordination and dishonesty (untruthfulness), regrettably, I can make no other recommendation other than termination from the police department.”
Sylvania Township offered Austin the chance to retire rather than be disciplined. He retired from the township’s police department on May 2, 2023, and then was hired in Delta a little more than three months later. May 2 was the last day he and Ederra were on the township’s health plan.
An independent audit completed by Westerville-based Julian & Grube for Sylvania Township found that Austin requested his health coverage be changed from Single to Employee Plus Spouse on Jan. 1, 2016. Over more than seven years, the township paid $134,862.16 in premiums and health savings contributions for Austin and Ederra.
Faber’s letter reads: “Sylvania Township’s health insurance plan is only available to legal spouses and dependents of the employee. Mr. Austin’s second wife was not a legal spouse and therefore not entitled to health insurance under the township’s health insurance plan.”
A phone message was left for Austin, but it was not returned. The Lucas County Prosecutor’s Office, which represents the township in legal issues, said it was “reserving comment at this time, as we have not yet received the certified copy of the Findings for Recovery from the Ohio Auditor of State.”