Butler County auditor, indicted for corruption, gets GOP endorsement

fiscal officer, they would have suspended me. I am continuing to ask the voters to not rush to judgment, be patient, and allow me due process,” Reynolds said in his statement.

Butler County Auditor Roger Reynolds faces six public corruption charges. He’s being sued for civil conspiracy. The local sheriff, a fellow Republican, has called for Reynolds to resign.

Yet Reynolds is running for reelection this November.

And he stands a good chance of winning.

Reynolds ran unopposed in the Republican primary election in May and won. He is endorsed by the Butler County Republican Party and will face Democratic candidate and Oxford Township resident Mike Dalesandro in the November election.

Republicans dominate in Butler County, where former president Donald Trump won 61% to 37% in 2020. No Democrats represent Butler County on its county commission, in Columbus, or in Washington.

Reynolds said the charges are false and politically motivated in a statement he sent to The Enquirer.

Ohio county auditors handle county funds and records, including property appraisals and tax assessments. Auditor salaries are based on their county’s population. Reynolds’ salary was $106,498 in 2021.

Anne Whitesell, an assistant professor of political science at Miami University, said she believes Reynolds has a good chance of being reelected, despite the indictments.

“I think, for people who are not doing in-depth research on the candidate, those who are already inclined to vote Republican are going to just vote for him and that kind of suggests that he stands a decent chance of winning reelection,” said Whitesell

The Democrat running against Reynolds said he hopes county residents recognize the need for change, not just in the person in the party controlling the office.

“It just was really bothersome that we had someone in the office that had this cloud hanging over the office,”Dalesandro told The Enquirer. “It’s really, really hard for me to see how anybody –whether it’s Roger or anybody else in the Republican Party in Butler County – can sit there and be like, yeah, we’re going to be able to clean this up.”

A Butler County grand jury indicted Reynolds on five charges in February. A sixth charge was added in July. Reynolds now faces: h One count of bribery, a third-degree felony. h Three counts of unlawful interest in a public contract, a fourth-degree felony. h One count of unlawful use of authority, a first-degree misdemeanor. h One count of conflict of interest, a first-degree misdemeanor.

Reynolds has pleaded not guilty to all six charges.

A special commission appointed by the Ohio Supreme Court found in March that Reynolds’ alleged actions are not “sufficiently related to the performance and duties of his office” and decided against suspending him.

“If those judges saw evidence that I was not fit to serve as the county’s top

Reynolds said he’s running again to continue his pledge to “reduce the size of government, return tax dollars back to the citizens and maintain trust and accountability in the office.”

Trial delayed until after Election Day

Reynolds’ jury trial was initially scheduled to start on Aug. 15. The trial was rescheduled for Dec. 12, after the prosecution requested more time since prosecutor Brad Tammaro with the Ohio Attorney General’s Office was involved in a different trial in Lucas County.

Reynolds could face seven years and six months in prison if he’s found guilty of all six charges, according to Butler County Sheriff Richard Jones.

If Reynolds is convicted, he would not be able to serve as auditor. Convicted felons cannot hold an office of honor, trust or profit, under Ohio law.

The Butler County Sheriff’s Office began investigating Reynolds in August after reporting from Enquirer media partner Fox19 and complaints from West Chester resident Gerald Parks.

Jones said he believed Reynolds “should resign immediately” after the initial charges were filed in February.

“I think this particularly bothersome part is not just that like he has these allegations against him, but they are directly related to his position,” said Whitesell, who is also the associate director of the Menard Family Center for Democracy which supports community programs and research to promote civic health.

She said she thinks that makes the indictments more relevant for the election.

“Presumably if he has done these things, then you don’t want someone in the job who has done those things,” she said.

Parks filed a lawsuit in September 2021 in which he accused Reynolds of using his position as auditor to increase taxes on Parks’ property and prevent its development.

In the lawsuit, Parks said he’s lived next to Reynolds’ parents on Hamilton Mason Road for over 50 years.

Parks, 88, said he was caring for his wife Helen who had cancer in October 2015, when Reynolds approached him. Reynolds allegedly said he was aware of Parks’ financial situation after Helen’s cancer and offered to buy Parks’property on Hamilton Mason Road.

Parks said Reynolds’ offer was below market value and that he told Reynolds he wasn’t interested in selling. Reynolds then allegedly gave Parks an ultimatum to either sell the property to him or Reynolds would ensure that any proposed developments on the property would never get through planning or zoning.

Parks said Reynolds then denied his application for lower taxes based on the land’s agricultural use without any notice and publicly opposed a senior living development proposed for the property.

Parks said Reynolds chased off three developers interested in the site by speaking at local government meetings.

Reynolds said he was concerned about potential development on the