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DeMois asked to address the Butler County Democratic Party’s executive committee for two minutes at an Oct. 19 meeting.
“I’m not a Democrat, I’m not a Republican. But what I’m going to ask you for is for two minutes,” said DeMois, who initially introduced himself as a private citizen. “What I am is the only non-politician subject to liabelous smear of a recent web post that came from the (Butler County) Democratic Party regarding ‘The Truth about Mark Welch’ (website).”
After about a four-minute discussion the party’s membership shut him down citing by-laws prohibited him from addressing the membership — although party chairwoman Jocelyn Bucaro intended to let him say his peace.
“I’ll let him speak but I want the members of the committee to be aware that he has been verbally abusive and harassing to volunteers in the party over the last week (before the Oct. 19 meeting), demanding a meeting,” said Bucaro. “We’ve asked him to communicate us in writing. He’s refused to do so. Now he appears here tonight, uninvited. It is a public meeting. I will allow you to do this but I want the members of the party to know that his behavior has been very aggressive and hostile. If we need to remove him we will do so.”
Even a couple of members shouted in the crowd of about 75 members wanted to have him to address the members before the motion was made and vote on to not allow DeMois to speak by upholding the bylaws that only permit members to present new business.
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DeMois, 61, of West Chester Twp., was convicted in March 2015 and sentenced in August 2015 to probation for a single count of a securities violation for a $1 million committed investment involving Scott Michael of Michael Farms into Christopher Technologies and TML. He also testified against Beck, and according to court records was released from probation this past April.
Beck was accused of being the CFO of Christopher Technologies and intimately involved in the operations and finances of the company. Beck was convicted in 2015 for the "significant" role he played the fraud, but in December 2016 the First District Court of Appeals overturned 10 of the 13 guilty verdicts. The appeals court cited that seven of the convictions violated the statute of limitations and three did not have sufficient evidence.
The state of Ohio has challenged appeals court decision to the Ohio Supreme Court, which it has yet to release a decision.
Party officials told the Journal-News that everything on the website was sourced and supported by either court documents or media accounts, and they adjusted the website to fixed any perceived issues but would not take it down as DeMois has requested.
DeMois contests several points made on the website. Facts about DeMois’ case includes:
- He pled no contest and was found guilty of a single securities violation count in March 2015. He was never charged or convicted of fraud;
- He was not mentioned in the criminal case until a superseding indictment in February 2014 and entered a no contest plea in March 2015. He was a defendant in the 2013 civil case against Beck and others, but the case against DeMois was dropped;
- The $1,000 remaining balance of a $2,000 loan to Welch's 2013 campaign was forgiven after he paid the court-ordered restitution of $22,000; and
- Testified in court the transaction that led to his securities violation happened before he met with Scott Michael of Michael Farms.
DeMois does not deny his involvement or conviction, though he maintains he was a whistleblower and worked with state investigators in the Beck case. He maintains he was an unknowning participant, and Senior Assistant Ohio Attorney General Dan Kasaris said during his August 2015 sentencing, “There is no evidence that Chip DeMois knew that Tom Lysaght was going to steal $1 million from Scott Michael.”
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