Magnus Sues Crish For $102,000 Loan

LIMA — Former Lima City Councilman and local bar owner Ray Magnus filed a lawsuit against Sheriff Sam Crish seeking $102,000 he said is owed. Magnus does not identify Crish as the sheriff of Allen County but list Samuel A. Crish of McBride Road in Delphos as the defendant. Magnus is seeking $102,000 he said he let Crish borrow plus an additional $25,000 in punitive damages, along with attorney fees and legal costs, according to records filed in Allen County Common Pleas Court late Friday. Magnus said Monday Crish is a friend and he agreed to help him out. “When he borrowed it originally it was to pay off some of his business debt supposedly on that business place he had on West Elm,” Magnus said. Magnus referenced a business Crish began after former Sheriff Dan Beck asked Crish and Steve Hoverman to leave the Sheriff’s Office in 2008 when both announced they would run for sheriff to replace Beck who chose not to run again. Crish eventually beat Hoverman but resigned from the Sheriff’s Office in early 2008 to campaign.