A jury found Reynolds guilty on Dec. 21 in Butler County Common Pleas Court of unlawful interest in a public contract. Reynolds was found not guilty of three felony charges and one misdemeanor charge.
Reynolds, 53, faces six to 18 months in prison, with a potential fine of up to $5,000. Because of the felony conviction he is not legally permitted to hold elected office and the county commissioners have named Joe Statzer as interim county auditor.
His felony conviction was related to a suggestion he made to the then-treasurer of Lakota Schools.
In September 2017, Reynolds’ office returned $2 million to all taxing districts and $459,498 to Lakota Schools. The fees are monies the auditor’s office receives from the state for calculating and distributing real estate taxes from levies to local governments. If the auditor’s office doesn’t need all the fees to operate, they can be returned to the various entities.
Reynolds approached the treasurer of the school district and suggested the district use public money to build an indoor golf training facility at Four Bridges Country Club.
He lives near Four Bridges and the pro there coaches the Lakota girls golf team, where his daughter played at the time, according to testimony.
Former Lakota Schools treasurer Jenny Logan testified at trial that Reynolds proposed the “idea” to her during a meeting in December 2016. She and others from the district met with Rogers at his office on High Street to discuss bond millage. When the meeting ended, he asked the others to leave the room.
Logan, who now works for the Butler County Educational Service Center, said Reynolds proposed $250,000 — or about half of the district’s refund money for the next three years — be used to build a year-round golf academy at Four Bridges for use by the Lakota golf teams.
Logan talked to the district’s lawyers about the idea, and she was told it shouldn’t be pursued for various reasons, including using public money to build on private property.
Reynolds then proposed an option of letting Four Bridges build the facility and charging the district a yearly access fee of $250,000. Both proposals never reached the point of being voted by the school board.
Ziepfel said in the acquittal motion that there is no evidence a contract between the schools and golf club was authorized, because it never made it past the preliminary stages, there is no evidence that any such contract would have been a “public contract” and there is no evidence Reynolds used the authority or influence of the auditor’s office to secure authorization of any contract.
“Ultimately, Ms. Logan’s testimony boiled down to the following: Mr. Reynolds made a simple suggestion to the school treasurer (without any threats or promises), there was a follow-up meeting, they ran it by lawyers, then the idea died out,” Ziepfel said in the motion. “Based on those basic facts, no rational juror could find Mr. Reynolds ‘employed the authority of influence’ of the auditor’s office to ‘secure authorization’ of any contract’.”
Steve Irwin, spokesperson for the Ohio Attorney General’s Office, the agency who prosecuted the case, declined comment on the acquittal motion, but said written response would be filed next week.
Staff Writer Rick McCrabb contributed to this report.
Jan. 5: Reynolds’ attorney files motion for acquittal. Sentencing set for Feb. 15.
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