BUCYRUS—Crawford County Prosecutor Matthew Crall has completed his investigation into potential criminal charges against former Marion City Auditor Robert Landon.
In findings released late Tuesday, Crall concluded that no criminal charges should be brought against Landon.
Crall examined several allegations, including theft of mail, intimidation, retaliation, obstruction, and falsification.
The investigation stemmed from long-running disputes between Landon and the city council. Landon made several critical errors in running city business that resulted in hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines and penalties. At one point, Marion was under threat of seizure of assets from the IRS. Federal grant monies were put at risk. Invoices were unpaid. More issues surfaced after Landon resigned and then tried to rescind his resignation. Marion Prosecutor Ray Grogan asked Crall to look over the allegations for criminal charges.
In his summary, Crall told Grogan:
“No criminal charges should be charged out of this never-ending saga between Marion City officials. The information provided to me does not warrant criminal charges as the allegations cannot be proven beyond a reasonable doubt. Obviously, it would be within your authority to refer this matter to the appropriate authorities for misdemeanor or federal charges. My recommendation is that this evaluation end this lengthy chapter. Mr. Landon may have been incompetent or in a situation where he could never succeed. Either way, in my opinion, the constituents of Marion are best served by closing this matter with Mr. Landon’s resignation, which occurred on October 18, 2021.”— Matthew Crall.