Reynolds was indicted in February 2022 on five counts for bribery and leveraging his public office to further his own interests on charges related to trying to help his family develop land in Liberty and West Chester townships.

A separate felony charge was added alleging he asked Lakota Schools officials to use $750,000 of the unspent fees he routinely returned to taxing bodies each year for a golf academy at Four Bridges Golf Course, where his family lives. The jury in December 2022 found no fault on the development claims but guilty on the Lakota charge.

He was sentenced to 30 days in jail, five years of community control and fined $5,000. The sentence was suspended pending appeal.

He was removed from office after the guilty verdict because felons can’t hold public office. Reynolds appealed the verdict and the Ohio Supreme Court completely exonerated him in August when it declined to overturn a 12th District Court of Appeals decision in his favor. While under indictment Reynolds was re-elected in November 2022.

Reynolds always maintained his political rivals were behind his legal troubles and at one point outright accused the state of going after him because he challenged huge property value hikes in 2020, “The State’s attempt to now use false and legally insufficient criminal allegations to remove Mr. Reynolds from office reeks of a desperate, political ploy,” his attorney wrote early on in the case.

Civil claims

The claims in the civil case have evolved — and other defendants dismissed — and both sides asked visiting Judge Dennis Langer to settle the matter in their favor, he tossed the bulk of the claims a year ago, but the matter is still going to trial on one allegation.

Andrew Yosowitz, one of Reynolds’ civil attorneys, told the Journal-News the criminal absolution has no bearing on the civil case. The Supreme Court action only pertained to the Lakota charge not the Parks development deals and as for the jury verdict:

“The standards are different in criminal cases versus civil cases,” Yosowitz said. “The elements of the tort claims that are alleged in the civil case are different than the elements of the crime that were alleged in the criminal case. If he was convicted in the criminal case it doesn’t necessarily mean he loses the civil case and if he wins the criminal case it doesn’t mean he wins the civil case. They are two separate proceedings with their own laws.”

Parks’ attorney Chip Goff could not be reached for comment on the recent developments, but told the Journal-News previously the not-guilty verdicts in the criminal charges involving his client’s claims won’t adversely impact his case.

Out of five counts in the civil complaint there is only one matter ripe for a jury to decide at trial — which is scheduled to begin Jan. 6 after two postponements — involving the doomed Clover development in Liberty Twp. Originally Parks’ attorney was suing Reynolds for $4 million but now Yosowitz confirmed only around $1.35 million is on the line for his client.

That issue involves Reynolds’ alleged influence over decisions made by the Liberty Twp. trustees, “as it relates to the Clover contract, plaintiffs presented evidence showing there is a genuine issue as to whether defendant improperly influenced members of the Liberty Twp. board of trustees,” Langer wrote in his decision dismissing most of the case.

There was a $1.35 million purchase offer by Lancaster Land LLP so Clover Group could build a 55+ senior community. The Liberty Twp. plan commission heard the case in January 2021 and Reynolds spoke in opposition to the development, citing greenspace and other concerns, according to the suit. The Liberty Plan Commission voted 4 to 1 against the project in April and the trustees followed suit.

Langer cited bits of evidence collected in the case showing Reynolds discussed the development with both trustees Tom Farrell — who was once a defendant and then dropped from the suit — and Steve Schramm.

Farrell was pulled into the civil lawsuit over a campaign contribution Reynolds made. It alleged Reynolds donated $500 to Farrell’s re-election campaign in exchange for the trustee voting against the development proposed for Parks’ land. Goff released Farrell from the suit after a year saying he wasn’t the defendant to “focus on.”

Parks also claimed Reynolds had his office remove agricultural tax breaks in 2017 and 2018 and caused “recruitment charges” totaling $13,050. Langer found Parks needed to dispute the action within a year, so the statute of limitations had expired.

Reynolds also claimed statutory immunity because he was a government employee and Langer ruled while the county is immune, Reynolds could be sued individually.

Reynolds recently lost in an attempt to get his old job back. He filed an action in the Supreme Court to oust current county Auditor Nancy Nix and also asked the Butler County Board of Elections to boot her off the November ballot.

The court voted 6-to-1 on Sept. 25 and wrote in a joint opinion that Reynolds wasn’t entitled to regain his position. And BOE Director Nicole Unzicker told the Journal-News the board denied Reynold’s protest because “it was not filed timely, we had already been passed the dates for protests to be filed.”

Next step

Nix stood by Reynolds during his trial and even got him another job after he was convicted. They’ve been friends for more than 15 years since they both took office — she was the county treasurer before the GOP Central Committee appointed her as Reynolds replacement. When he filed the action in the high court she said this was a “Hail Mary pass” by Reynolds and “I think it’s vengeance, he has scores to settle and I’m just in the way.”

Now that it’s over she said, “For three weeks it was a major distraction for many in the office. Some employees were fearful of losing their jobs. All the dust that had been long settled was kicked up again. There was absolutely no lack of service rendered to the public, but internally it was certainly a difficult time for our office and likely for some other county offices as well.”

Reynolds did not return calls for comment but his attorney issued a statement after the high court ruling, “Mr. Reynolds was investigated by a political rival, and then prosecuted by a political rival. He was wrongfully convicted on a single charge that the court of appeals said was so insufficient, it never should have been brought. His wrongful conviction was reversed, and he was fully cleared of all charges. But Mr. Reynolds lost his elected office anyway. That is a travesty of justice.”

This isn’t the first time a county auditor has been in trouble in Butler County The Central Committee also appointed Reynolds in 2008, because former county auditor Kay Rogers, former Commissioner Mike Fox and others went to federal prison for their part in the Dynus fiber optics scandal. Rogers resigned after pleading guilty to bank and mail fraud, and tax evasion.

Farrell, who has a bill going through the state legislature now to prevent someone from suing if criminal charges aren’t involved in cases like this, said he is glad this chapter in everyone’s lives is finally closed. The township taxpayers had to pay nearly $80,000 defending Farrell.

“The whole situation is very unusual, it’s never happened in the state and I’m hopeful it’ll never happen again,” Farrell said. “It disrupted a lot of people’s lives and caused a lot of grief for a lot of people.”

Sheriff’s Chief Deputy Anthony Dwyer told the Journal-News the case is closed and they “accept” the outcome..

“This has pretty much run its course as to our involvement,” Dwyer said. “We accept the end result, it’s part of the criminal justice system. You don’t always know how things are going to work out, that’s why our system is designed to have this type of process and we accept that.”