Reynolds is the county auditor, wants to return to work, attorney says

Former Butler County Auditor Roger Reynolds was sentenced Friday, March 30, 2023 to 30 days in jail and will serve 5 years of community control. The former auditor was also fined $5,000. Butler County Common Pleas Court Visiting Judge Daniel Hogan said he will not have to be taken into custody today. 

Reynolds was found guilty in December of a suggested partnership between Lakota Local Schools and Four Bridges Golf Club to expand the indoor golf training facility for the Lakota teams and using his influence as auditor to push for a facility. NICK GRAHAM/STAFF

Credit: Nick Graham

Credit: Nick Graham

Former Butler County Auditor Roger Reynolds was sentenced Friday, March 30, 2023 to 30 days in jail and will serve 5 years of community control. The former auditor was also fined $5,000. Butler County Common Pleas Court Visiting Judge Daniel Hogan said he will not have to be taken into custody today. Reynolds was found guilty in December of a suggested partnership between Lakota Local Schools and Four Bridges Golf Club to expand the indoor golf training facility for the Lakota teams and using his influence as auditor to push for a facility. NICK GRAHAM/STAFF

Just hours after the Ohio Supreme Court declined to hear the state’s appeal of the overturned felony conviction of former Butler County Auditor Roger Reynolds, the politician’s attorney said his client wants to return to work to the county position he was elected to in 2022.

“We are pleased with today’s decision by the Ohio Supreme Court to decline the State’s request for an appeal of the 12th District Court of Appeals’ decision. Mr. Reynolds is innocent, and his complete acquittal is the right, fair, and just result. Mr. Reynolds and his family would like to thank the countless friends and supporters who have stood by his side,” Chad Ziepfel, Reynolds attorney, told the Journal-News.

“He looks forward to returning to work on behalf of the citizens of Butler County, as their duly elected auditor.”

In February 2023, Butler County Republican Party Central Committee members selected Nancy Nix to replace Reynolds as auditor and she is on the November ballot for election to a full four-year term. Reynolds resigned from the job after his conviction in December 2022.

But Ziepfel says Reynolds is the duly-elected county auditor, citing the Ohio Revised Code.

“He was elected in November 2022 for a four-year term to begin in March 2023. Once he was convicted in December 2022, he was no longer competent to serve as auditor. However, now that the conviction has been reversed, he is returned to competency and is the duly-elected Butler County auditor,” Ziepfel told the Journal-News.

Steve Irwin, spokesman for the attorney general’s office said, “We’ll decline to comment.”

Nancy Nix and Butler County Prosecutor Michael Gmoser declined comment.

About the Author