Man charged in crash death of law school benefactor
By Associated Press
Published November 5, 2004
NAPLES - A man was accused of vehicular homicide Thursday, more than 21/2 years after a hit-run crash that killed an attorney for whom the Ohio State University law school is named.
Collier County sheriff's deputies arrested Jeffrey Scott Ryals, 43, at his apartment complex, charging him in the February 2002 death of 68-year-old Michael Moritz, a Columbus, Ohio attorney.
Moritz was returning from an Ohio State alumni event in Naples when he was rear-ended by a pickup at an intersection. He died about two weeks later.
The Michael E. Moritz College of Law at Ohio State University was named for him in 2001 after he donated $30-million to the school.
Ryals faces charges of vehicular homicide, leaving the scene of an accident involving death and leaving the scene of an accident involving personal injury, according to arrest reports.
Private investigator Victor Ortino, hired by the Moritz family, aided the Sheriff's Office with the 33-month investigation, said Chere Avery, a spokeswoman for the local prosecutor's office.
