Area mayor jailed on pandering charge

VW independent staff

LIMA — Bond has been set at $200,000 for a village mayor arrested on a felony charge.

Spencerville Mayor Phillip Briggs, 45, was arraigned via video in Lima Municipal Court on Wednesday. He was arrested early Tuesday morning for pandering obscenity involving a minor, a second degree felony. As of Wednesday night, he remained in the Allen County Jail.

According to a press release from the Allen County Sheriff’s Office, the Spencerville Police Department contacted the sheriff’s office for their assistance in a pandering investigation Monday afternoon. Detectives interviewed two teenage girls who claimed Briggs had secretly recorded them in various stages of undress. A search warrant was executed at his home and a laptop was seized by deputies.

A preliminary hearing for Briggs has been scheduled for 11 a.m. Tuesday, February 7, in Lima Municipal Court. It’s expected the case will be bound over to an Allen County grand jury.

If eventually convicted of the charge, Briggs faces between two and eight years in prison.