COLUMBUS, OH -- In an effort to expand and improve boating accident investigations, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) Division of Watercraft has hired four new state watercraft investigators.
"Adding four new investigators improves our ability to examine boating-related accidents, mishaps resulting in property damage and thefts of boats and motors," said Jeff Hoedt, chief of ODNR's Division of Watercraft.
Three of the new employees will be assigned to regional office locations in central, northeast and southwest Ohio, while one will be assigned to the division's administrative headquarters in Columbus.
The Division of Watercraft now has a total of six investigators.
The state's new watercraft investigators are Sherre Hustead of Columbus; Randy Battista of Tallmadge; Tony DeLong of Kitts Hill; and James Mayhugh of Springfield.
Hustead has been an ODNR watercraft officer since 1988 and will remain assigned to the division's administrative headquarters in Columbus. As a watercraft investigator her primary role will be to investigate fraudulent boat documents.
DeLong, a former Lawrence County sheriff's deputy, has been a state watercraft officer since 1990 and last year was promoted to a watercraft officer specialist assigned to the Portsmouth field office. As an investigator, he will be covering the southern and southwest region of Ohio.
Mayhugh has been a watercraft officer specialist since 1978, assigned to the field office in Springfield. He was the Division of Watercraft's Outstanding Officer of the Year in 1995. As investigator he will cover central and west-central Ohio.
Battista was hired by ODNR as a watercraft officer in 1981. As an investigator, he will cover northeast, eastern, and southeastern Ohio from the Akron field office. Battitista also was Outstanding Watercraft Officer of the Year in 1998 and the National Association of Boating Administrators (NABA) Officer of the Year in 1999.
Veteran investigators Sam DeWalt and Jim Gorman are presently assigned to the regional watercraft office in Cleveland and will continue to cover northern Ohio and Lake Erie.