'Sad day': Sheriff Scroggins dies after surgery

MUNCIE - Delaware County Sheriff Mike Scroggins, who came from a family with a long political history yet made his own way by breaking from the leadership of his political party and winning election twice, died Friday.

Scroggins died early Friday in Elyria, Ohio, nearly a week after having shoulder surgery in a hospital there.

Scroggins died in the home of the woman he was dating, Jason Walker, the chief deputy sheriff, told The Star Press. Walker said Scroggins got up in the middle of the night, fell in the bathroom and died shortly afterward.

Walker said Scroggins — who had a history of health problems, including multiple back surgeries — had "major shoulder surgery" at an Ohio hospital on May 8.

Despite those physical ailments, Scroggins' death was a shock to many who knew him. He was only 52 years old and had the height and build to intimidate a lawbreaker but usually exhibited a thoughtful demeanor.

He was a police officer for nearly 30 years and was elected sheriff in 2010 and re-elected in 2014. Both times, he ran as a member of Team Democrat, a dissident group that ran without the support of the mainstream party.

Now the mainstream party will pick his successor. The Democratic Party will hold a caucus — not yet scheduled — to fill the sheriff's position until the next election for that office in 2018.

"It'll be up to the Democrat Party to make their appointment," Walker said. "I hope we can continue to do what we've done."

'A sad day'

News of Scroggins' death circulated quickly. Former Delaware County Commissioner Larry Bledsoe, a longtime friend of Scroggins, said Friday morning, "It's a sad day and a big loss to the community. It's tough."

Bledsoe, Scroggins, county Coroner Scott Hahn and attorney and prosecutor candidate J.A. Cummins ran as Team Democrat in the 2010 election. With the exception of Cummins — who died in 2013 — the group was successful and won election.

Bledsoe said he knew Scroggins since the late 1990s when Bledsoe was a county reserve deputy. The two continued to be close after Bledsoe lost a re-election bid in 2014. Bledsoe said Scroggins last week texted him a photo of the scar from his shoulder surgery.

"We were going to go out for pizza soon," Bledsoe said. "I don't guess we will now."

Walker said he received a telephone call at about 3:30 a.m. Friday telling him that Scroggins had died. Walker said he believed Scroggins had been recovering well from the surgery in the past week. He added, "The doctor thinks he had a heart attack or blood clot from the surgery."

Plagued by back problems addressed through a series of surgeries, Scroggins had dealt with pain through most of his time in office. The shoulder surgery he underwent on May 8 was to address an injury that might have occurred years earlier while weightlifting, Walker added.

'I call myself a realist'

The decor of the Delaware County sheriff's office usually reflects the personality of the sheriff. When Republican George Sheridan was sheriff, the office was decorated with cowboy paintings and even a saddle.

During Scroggins' term, a window ledge behind his desk was filled with a small tribute to his father and uncles, who had also been in public service. Their police caps and fire helmets were on display.

As sheriff, Scroggins devoted much of his time to two great responsibilities of Indiana sheriffs: dealing with his department's budget and managing a jail. Scroggins frequently appeared at meetings of Delaware County Council, making earnest pleas against budget cuts and, sometimes, emphasizing to the county's fiscal body how he had reached funds-savings goals or managed the jail.

Operations of the jail were a task that no sheriff in the past generation could ignore. A 1978 federal court lawsuit, filed by inmates over conditions in the Delaware County jail, led to the construction and opening of the new jail in the Justice Center in 1992.

Although the county paid off the new jail in 2014, most officials were not eager to jump into a new project.

Scroggins told The Star Press in April that in his final term in office, he intended to work on a jail plan to hand to his successor.

"I call myself a realist," Scroggins said. "The revenue's not there and I'm not going to put that on taxpayers."

Contact Keith Roysdon at 765-213-5828 and follow him on Facebook and Twitter.