Fox, 63, will be allowed to surrender to officials voluntarily after he completes the first phase of recovery for a knee replacement he underwent last month. Judge Sandra Beckwith did not give him a fine, noting he has $136,000 in restitution to pay for the tax violation.
“I’m not surprised. It is what it is,” Fox said as his son, Ryan, pushed him out from the courtroom in a wheelchair. “Some days you get the bear and some days the bear gets you.”
Fox admitted guilt to the charges last year, but did not plead to any corruption charges — specifically allegedly accepting bribes and kickbacks — originally pursued by the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
He agreed to the sentence as part of the plea agreement, but he wanted to be given home confinement and asked to delay the sentencing.
The conspiracy charges came from a a $460,000 payment Fox failed to disclose after accepting funds from Robert Schuler in exchange for helping Schuler’s company to get a $1 million contract for fiber-optics services.
Fox is “morbidly obese,” has diabetes, vascular issue and orthopedic problems, according to medical assessments.
Beckwith agreed to allow Fox’s physicians to consult with prison doctors about the 22 medications he is taking to assure any substitutions are appropriate. But the judge determined Fox should go to prison, noting the charges he admitted to carry a 108- to 135-month sentence and his plea deal is “less than half the sentencing range.”
Commissioner Chuck Furmon, called by the prosecution to testify during the sentencing hearing, blasted Fox’s behavior.
Furmon said Fox had a brilliant mind, but added the former commissioner and state legislator had “a belief he could manipulate situations and laws to fit his purpose.”
Furmon made the call in 2005 to the FBI and asked the agency to look into whether Dynus took out a multimillion-dollar loan in the county’s name without approval for the operation of a fiber-optics system.
That investigation led to Rogers pleading to falsifying documents and going to federal prison. It also turned the spotlight on Fox, who took a job as director of Butler County Children Services after serving as county commissioner.
Fox and his son, Ryan, addressed Beckwith before sentencing.
Ryan Fox said his father constantly had a phone to his ear talking with anyone who needed his help, often sacrificing time with his family.
“He allowed his job as a public official to become who he was,” Ryan Fox said. “My father was and is a man of integrity.
Fox told the court his actions were not those of a corrupt politician.
“I don’t recognize the person that the government has described in writings and described through witnesses and testimony,” he said. “They can take away my freedom but they cannot erase the (good things) I did for the people of Butler County. This little slice of my life is not the defining moment for Mike Fox.”
Also testify during the all-day hearing was Chee Chee Rose of Middletown, who paid Fox $7,000 a month as a consultant when he was a commissioner, stating she “had his ear every day.”
Beginning in 2005, Rose said she paid Fox $130,000 during the 18 months he was her consultant.
Rose said she became interested in Fox’s business to help low-income people without insurance get prescriptions they needed and traveled with Fox to Chicago, Hawaii and a cruise to the Grand Cayman Islands on business trips all paid for by her ministry.
She said the ministry paid $35,000 for travel, food and hotels without Fox offering to pay any costs.
When Rose’s license for instant bingo to raise money for her ministry was held up a at the state level, she said she got some help from Fox.
Michael Rzymek, an Ohio assistant attorney general in charge of the charitable law section, testified he told Rose the office had not yet finished an investigation into whether or not the bingo operations met state standards. But within minutes, Rzymek said, he received a call from former Attorney General James Petro’s assistant telling him to issue the license.
“I was shocked, Rzymek said.“ I thought they had some sort of pull or juice.”
Rose said Fox always had money problems and asked her to make payments for him, including his daughter’s tuition at Miami University and for horseback riding camp.
Rose said she even paid the life insurance policy on the Foxes horse, Fabiano, and was told it would be donated to the ministry. But the horse was sold at auction and Fox allegedly claimed a $50,000 deduction on his tax return.
“I knew that didn’t happen, I was shocked,” Rose said.
Rose said she also gave Fox $100,000 that she received from an inheritance and supported the Fox family in the two months between his commission and children services jobs. Rose said she never received any repayment.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Jennifer Barry told the judge Fox had ethics violations as representative in the Statehouse and his actions continued in Butler County.
“Mr. Fox is a master manipulator,” Barry said. “He was able to get people to give him money. He would beg for it and he would cry for it.”
Contact this reporter at (513) 820-2168 or lauren.pack@coxinc.com.
About the Author
