Two Taylorville residents are being held at the Christian County Correctional Center after being arrested on drug charges. On Wednesday May 22nd, the Taylorville Police Department officers brought a state authorized search warrant to the home of 40-year-old Richard “Matt” Ruff and his wife, 34-year old Sara Ruff located on 525 E Elm Street following a drug investigation. During the search of their home, officers reportedly found numerous hypodermic syringes, packaging material, a digital scale, over 800-dollars, and a substance which field tested positive for the presence of heroin. The substance along with some of the syringes will be analyzed by the Illinois State Police Crime Lab.
Richard Ruff is the former Director of Christian County Health Department and resigned from that position at a February 2011 board meeting. A little over a year later in October of 2012, Ruff was indicted on two counts of felony and theft and four counts of felony official misconduct for allegedly taking unauthorized control over CCHD funds and property. His Sara Ruff was a practicing attorney in Taylorville in which she focused on family and divorce cases. She worked for the Chicago based law firm, Jenner and Block before coming back to Taylorville in 2010. She also was named Future Star Litigator for Illinois in 2009.
Sara and Richard were taken into custody without incident and charged with the possession of a controlled substance. They were taken to the Taylorville Police Department and later moved to the Christian County Correctional Center. The Christian County State’s Attorney’s Office and the Christian County Sheriff’s Office assisted in the investigation.
