Bribery Allegations in Lawsuit Against Butler County Auditor, Liberty Administrator

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BUTLER COUNTY, Ohio (WXIX) – A complaint filed Thursday accuses three Butler County officials of corruption-related allegations, including one that is the subject of an ongoing criminal investigation by local and state authorities.

Auditor Roger Reynolds and Liberty Township Administrator Tom Farrell are charged with alleged bribery, tortious interference and ethics violations related to an 87-year-old man and his land development contracts.

Reynolds is also charged with alleged extortion, and a member of the County Planning and Zoning Commission, Bernard Buck Rumpke, is charged with an alleged violation of ethics law as well as tortious interference, according to reports. court documents.

The 23-count trial names the plaintiffs as Gerald Parks, who owns properties in the townships of West Chester and Liberty along Hamilton Mason Road; his daughter / power of attorney and his family trust.

Reynolds, Farrell and Rumpke are appointed in both professional and personal capacity. The lawsuit also appoints Liberty Township’s board of directors.

Court documents indicate that Parks’ civil rights were violated by a series of alleged actions that began after he turned down an undervalued offer from Reynolds to buy one of his plots of land in 2015.

At the time, Parks and his family were facing his wife’s diagnosis of terminal cancer.

Rogers bothered me enormously. He’s been a thorn in my flesh, Parks told FOX19 NOW in an interview earlier this month. “

The lawsuit claims that Reynolds attempted to take advantage of his wife’s illness by expressing that he was aware of Parks’ financial situation because of it and that he just wanted to help by purchasing the property.

In October 2015, Roger Reynolds made Mr. Parks an undervalued offer via what was called an option contract for the purchase price of $ 475,000 and a down payment of $ 9,000. Following this offer, Mr. Reynolds pressured Mr. Parks to make the decision to sell the property saying he was able to guarantee that any development on (Parks land) on Hamilton Mason Road would be approved by local zoning boards. .

After consulting with his daughter, Parks met Reynolds at a local Frischs restaurant and told him he was not interested in selling his property at this time and certainly not for the price Reynolds offered him, the trial.

At that meeting, Roger Reynolds gave Mr Parks an ultimatum: sell the property to Roger Reynolds, or be landlocked and Roger Reynolds would ensure that any proposed development of the property never goes through planning and zoning, says the trial .

Reynolds then allegedly went on, along with Farrell and Rumpke, according to the lawsuit, to conspire to interfere with Parks’ business relationship and to intentionally cause emotional distress.

The Butler County Sheriff’s Office began investigating in late August after FOX19 NOW reported that Reynolds was seeking more than $ 1 million in public funds to pay for improvements on Hamilton Mason Road as he facilitated the sale of the owned by his parents in a $ 20 million senior residential complex. Sometimes he used his county elected office email account to communicate with county staff, as copies of emails show.

Ohio AG, BCI join criminal investigation into Butler County auditor, sheriff says

As the investigation expanded, the Sheriff’s Office consulted with Attorney General Dave Yost, who assigned investigators from the Bureau of Criminal Investigations to assist with this criminal investigation, Sheriff Richard Jones said in a report. released earlier this month.

A special prosecutor was appointed last week to assist Sheriff’s detectives and BCI agents, Brad Tommaro. Hes worked for the Ohio Attorney General’s office for over 30 years.

Parks’ attorney Chip Goff declined to comment on Thursday when FOX19 NOW asked if they had reported the lawsuit allegations to authorities or were involved in the investigation.

There is important evidence to present to a Butler County jury regarding the defendants’ civil liability. We look forward to presenting the facts and supporting evidence to a jury, Goff said, declining further comment.

FOX19 NOW has posts in all other parts and will update this story once we hear.

According to the lawsuit, Parks has been a neighbor of Reynolds’ parents, Raymond and Kathleen Reynolds, for over 50 years.

Roger Reynolds and his siblings grew up in the neighboring house of Parks, his wife Helen and their children on Hamilton Mason Road.

Several years ago, Parks and his wife bought about 15 acres west of their home on the 6700 block of Hamilton Mason Road on the Liberty Township side near Maud-Hughes Road.

The lawsuit claims that Reynolds attempted to take advantage of Ms Parks ‘wife’s illness by expressing that he was aware of Mr Parks’ financial situation because of it and that he just wanted to help by purchasing the property.

In October 2015, Roger Reynolds made Mr. Parks an undervalued offer via what was called an option contract for the purchase price of $ 475,000 and a down payment of $ 9,000; 22.

Following this offer, Mr. Reynolds pressured Mr. Parks to make the decision to sell the property by claiming he was able to guarantee that any development on 6784 Rd. Hamilton Mason would be approved by local zoning boards.

After consulting with his daughter in October 2015, Parks met Reynolds at a local Frischs restaurant and told him he was not interested in selling his property at this time and certainly not for the price Reynolds offered him.

At that meeting, Roger Reynolds gave Mr Parks an ultimatum: sell the property to Roger Reynolds, or be landlocked and Roger Reynolds would ensure that any proposed development of the property never goes through planning and zoning, says the trial .

Then the chase continues. In retaliation for refusing to sell the property to Roger Reynolds, in 2017 Roger Reynolds, in his capacity as auditor of Butler County, revoked the Parks CAUV (Current Agricultural Use Value) property tax designation and increased the assessed value of Property of Mr. Parks.

CAUV requests must be filed with the auditor. For property tax purposes, agricultural land devoted exclusively to commercial agriculture may be valued according to its current use rather than its highest and best potential use. By allowing values ​​to be set well below true market values, the CAUV normally results in a considerably lower tax bill for working farmers.

Parks’ lawsuit claims Reynolds failed to provide Mr. Parks with any notice about revoking his 2017 CAUV tax assessment, how to appeal – and wouldn’t tell his daughter why she was fired.

Parks was charged $ 30,000 on his first tax bill of 2018, the amount of tax savings he had accrued over the previous three years with the CAUV designation, his lawyer says.

The parks also had a higher annual property tax rate from that point on, according to the lawsuit.

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