COLUMBUS – Those who remember former Union County Sheriff Harry Wolfe and helped put his killer behind bars are preparing to once again argue that Stanley Penn should remain in prison for the slaying 35 years ago.
Penn is currently serving a sentence of 20 years to life in the Chillicothe Correctional Institution for the aggravated murder of Wolfe on Jan. 21, 1982, and has a hearing before the Ohio Parole Board on Dec. 11, Union County Sheriff Jamie Patton said.
A delegation from Union County – including the law enforcement officers who tracked Penn down and the prosecuting attorney who tried him – went before the board on Nov. 8 to oppose parole for Penn, now 68, who has served 34 years in prison for the crime.
“I wrote a letter to the Ohio Parole Board in October 1983 and told them that Stanley Penn should never be released under any circumstances. I still feel that way today,” said former Union County Prosecutor R. Larry Schneider.
Schneider prosecuted Penn for Wolfe’s murder, seeing him convicted in August 1983 on charges of aggravated murder, aggravated burglary and grand theft, Patton said.
Wolfe was shot to death while Wolfe investigating a burglar alarm at a home on Robinson Road in southern Union County.
Penn was caught in New York and returned to face trial in Ohio.
Penn was denied parole at his last hearing was in February 2008.
Patton is urging Union County residents to write to the parole board and oppose Penn’s release.
“Words cannot explain the devastation caused by Stanley Penn to the Wolfe family, the Sheriff’s Office, and the Union County Community. The loss of Sheriff Wolfe has never been forgotten and it never will be,” said Patton.