By Allen Howard
The Cincinnati Enquirer

ELMWOOD PLACE - Police Lt. Billy Peskin has been appointed acting chief of police following the resignation Wednesday of Chief Jeremy Alley, who has been indicted on five charges of importuning.

Mayor Jim Toles made the appointment. Peskin and Toles did not return calls to their offices Friday.

Alley, 26, was arrested Thursday at Village Hall. He had only been police chief 11 days before he was trapped in a sting operation, allegedly as he used his computer to solicit sex from a 15-year-old girl, police said.

Village Councilman Barney Philpot said Peskin will serve as acting chief until a new chief is appointed.

"The selection of a chief is the mayor's call," Philpot said. "He makes a selection and recommends his selection to council."

Philpot said he had not spoken with the mayor since the incident.

"We will go through the process of advertising for candidates to fill the position. I think we will probably go outside the village to search for someone," Philpot said.

The councilman seemed saddened about the Alley incident because he said he had known the chief since he was a youngster.

"This had not been pleasant. We will have to come up with a schedule so that we can get enough council members together for a quorum before we can decide which direction we will take," he said.

It takes four members to make up a quorum.

Officials at Elmwood Place Elementary School, where Alley had served as a resource officer, would not comment on his work at the school.

E-mail ahoward@enquirer.com