William “Jeff” Gillespie, warden of the Southeast Ohio Regional Jail, was charged Friday with unauthorized use of computers for allegedly showing a female jail employee adult pornography on his office computer Jan. 24.

There is no doubt that the images shown on the computer were pornographic, said Athens County Prosecutor C. David Warren.“It’s not a question of (a) swimsuit (edition) or Hustler (magazine),” he said. “It’s definitely pornography.”

Gillespie said yesterday from his home in Chesterhill that he has contacted an attorney, but declined to comment about the charge because he has not been notified officially.

“All I’ve got is what I’ve read in the paper,” he said.

Nelsonville police are investigating the contents of the computer’s hard drive and memory, said Chief David Redecker of the Nelsonville Police Department.

Gillespie, 38, could receive a maximum one-year prison sentence if convicted of the fifth-degree felony charge. He would be eligible for a diversion program because he has no prior convictions and the charge is a low-degree felony, Warren said.

The warden has been on paid administrative leave for an undisclosed reason since the jail’s Board of Commissioners met for its monthly meeting Jan. 31. The president of the board, county Auditor Jill Thompson, said no decisions will be made about Gillespie’s employment status until the 12 members from Athens, Hocking, Perry and Morgan counties meet Wednesday.Gillespie said he was given no reason for being put on leave and has not been invited to the Feb. 28 meeting.

The warden’s personnel files contain no recorded performance evaluations by either the Board of Commissioners or other jail employees. Thompson said the board does not conduct formal reviews of the warden, who operates “at the pleasure of the board.” The board members rely on the warden’s reports during the monthly meetings to assess the operations of the jail, Thompson said.

Performance evaluations of a warden are “very important to the operation of a jail,” said Bob Beightler, the executive director — effectively the warden — of the Tri-County Jail in Champaign County, one of three other regional jails in Ohio. When he was hired two years ago, Beightler instituted the practice of formally reviewing the executive director’s management of his jail.