“Considering the recent escalation of violence against public figures in our country, these highly concerning events, and the instability of Starline and Esrati, representatives of Clerk Foley’s legal team continue to ask the court to dismiss all charges against their client,” the release says.
Esrati and an attorney for Starline push back on the accusations as an attempt to discredit a witness in Foley’s criminal case and an activist who filed a motion in court to have Foley removed from office.
Foley is facing charges brought by the Ohio Auditor of State of misusing his office for political purposes, including using county equipment for campaign purposes and improper electioneering with staff.
Starline allegations
According to a Huber Heights police report filed last week, Ohio Auditor of State Investigator Diane Bouza claims she was advised by Montgomery County Treasurer John McManus of a phone conversation he’d previously had with Starline, in which he allegedly disclosed thoughts of killing Foley.
Bouza claims she was mandated to report the incident, the report states.
The intake officer said he contacted McManus to confirm the claim.
“I reached out to John McManus to clarify the statements made by Starline. McManus confirmed that he had a phone conversation with Starline two or three months ago,” according to a police report included in the release. “McManus stated that Starline told him he had thoughts of killing Mike Foley but does not plan on following through with them.”
Starline allegedly told McManus he had spoken with a therapist and “decided he would not follow through with killing him,” the report reads.
Starline declined to speak with police about the issue, the officer wrote.
The report is categorized as “information only” and it’s unclear if there is an active investigation into the allegation.
Starline currently works for the Montgomery County Board of Elections, where he was put on paid administrative leave while the allegations are investigated, according to board of elections officials.
Foley’s release calls for Starline to be removed from his position.
Starline responds
In a written statement to this news outlet Sunday, attorney Terry Posey, who represents Starline, categorized the accusation as being part of “a consistent pattern by Mike Foley to allege Mr. Starline has conducted himself improperly.”
“After sitting for testimony for several hours in August, the judge in Foley’s criminal case found any such allegations against Starline to be unfounded,” the statement reads.
Starline has not be served with notice of any protective order, nor any notice of a hearing to address these allegations, according to Posey.
“Mr. Starline looks forward to addressing these concerns where they should be handled: in court,” Posey wrote.
Starline has alleged that while working at the clerk’s office, he “observed (Foley’s) administrative assistant, who is also his campaign treasurer … doing campaign finance documents on the County computers where she was filling out his campaign finance report, asking him questions, he was answering from his corner office,” according to court records.
Foley was indicted last year alongside former Montgomery County Municipal Court Judge James Piergies, who has since pleaded guilty to allegations related to his son’s employment. Charges against Foley and Piergies came two years after the clerk of courts office was raided by state auditor’s office investigators.
Esrati allegations
The allegations against Esrati stem from comments he made during June phone calls with staff from the Montgomery County Prosecutors Office.
Esrati himself submitted a transcript of the conversation into court evidence as part of his case seeking to have Foley removed from office because of the clerk’s conviction on felony and misdemeanor charges.
Foley’s conviction was reversed in July after he withdrew a no contest plea and the case remains open, putting Foley back on the path toward a trial.
Reached for comment, Esrati said he had not been served by the court for any order of protection and called Foley’s accusations a “comedy of the absurd.”
Esrati said the transcript was meant to demonstrate that the Montgomery County Prosecutor’s Office had refused to take action in the case.
The transcript is dated June 23, which is days after Foley’s attorney Jon Paul Rion said Foley would be withdrawing his plea because it could result in Foley having to step down from office. Esrati in the call urges the prosecutor’s office to file an action in the court to remove Foley from office.
In the transcript — which is poorly transcribed by an artificial intelligence program — an assistant prosecutor appears to sympathize with Esrati’s position but says the case is being handled by the Ohio Auditor of State, not the county.
“I only handle murder cases,” the assistant prosecutor says.
Esrati responds: “I might go murder (Foley) here at this (expletive) doesn’t get taken care of.”
To which the prosecutor responds, according to the transcription: “Yeah, then you have Jon Paul Rion representing you and you’ll have me as so.”
Elsewhere in the transcript, Esrati references taking zip ties to the county building and physically removing Foley from office. Esrati says he was clearly joking with both comments.
“If I was in fact threatening to kill Mike Foley you don’t think the prosecutor at the time would have warned me? No, he didn’t,” Esrati told the Dayton Daily News Sunday.
“It was a joke,” he said. “The whole thing we were laughing through this.”
The release from Foley’s office calls out the assistant prosecutor’s comments in the conversation.
“This unprofessional behavior is dangerous, erodes the public’s trust in the county’s highest law enforcement agency and his promotion of violence against an elected official that the prosecutor’s office is charged with representing cannot be overlooked,” the release says.
Esrati also said he had no involvement with Tyler Starline.
Esrati says Foley’s accusations are a “desperate” attempt to undermine the legal cases against him.
“Foley is circumventing the court. This is an abuse of process and it is a malicious circumvention of the court and the rule of law,” Esrati said.
“This is what happens when voters reelect somebody under indictment.”
The release from the clerk’s office argues these allegations should end the case against him.
“The time is now to end the almost three-year investigation which has come down to a former employee using the copier for printing a minimal number of unauthorized copies and a flyer sent to employees’ homes to attend a cookout meant to promote a team environment,” it says.
“These minor infractions are miniscule compared to the multiple threats of murder and the distress caused to Clerk Foley, his family, his staff, and anyone who serves the public.”
