Latest news with #FranklinCountyCommonPleasCourt
Yahoo
29-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Ohio AG warns customers following cement layer lawsuit
(WKBN) — Ohio Attorney General David Yost is using a lawsuit out of central Ohio as an example for customers of what to be aware of when contracting work for their home or business. Yost filed a lawsuit in Franklin County Common Pleas Court against Ronald Lewis, of Blacklick, and his business, Ron Lewis Cement. Yost accuses Lewis of violating the Consumer Sales Practices ACT and the Home Solicitation Act. The lawsuit contends that 10 customers lost nearly $70,000 after hiring Lewis for cement-pouring projects, but Lewis did not complete the jobs even though he accepted upfront payments. Two consumers reported that Lewis excavated their existing driveways but failed to complete the work. Others said he performed no work at all. Yost also noted that Lewis never registered his business with the Ohio Secretary of State and did not provide customers with a required three-day cancellation notice. The lawsuit seeks restitution and civil penalties. AG Yost reminds Ohioans that before signing a home-improvement contract, be sure to: Check with local officials to see whether permits are required for any project. Ask the contractor for references — and follow up on them. Check whether any complaints have been filed against the contractor with the Better Business Bureau and/or the Ohio Attorney General's Office. Get written estimates from at least three contractors. Verify your cancellation rights under Ohio law. Ensure that the contract details: A description of the work to be completed. Any warranties or guarantees. Any verbal promises made by the contractor. Avoid any contract requiring a large down payment or requiring full payment before the project is completed and inspected. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
19-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Franklin County judge questions motive, timing of illegal voting indictments
A Franklin County judge is weighing whether the case against a woman charged with voting illegally, filed weeks before the 2024 presidential election, should be dismissed or proceed to trial. The 62-year-old woman is accused of voting while not being a citizen in the November 2018 election, according to court records. The Ohio Attorney General's office indicted the woman in October 2024, two weeks before the statute of limitations ran out. Attorney General Dave Yost's office indicted two other people in Franklin County and three others across the state, including a man who had died two years earlier. While the indictment falls within Ohio's six-year statute of limitations for felonies, the defendant says the court should dismiss her case because her ability to find witnesses and evidence has been taken away. Yost's office says in court filings that the indictments were charged in the required amount of time and boil down to whether the person was allowed to vote, adding that her inability to find witnesses or evidence is irrelevant. In a May 15 hearing, Signal Cleveland reported, Franklin County Common Pleas Court Judge Chris Brown, a Democrat, questioned whether Yost had turned the woman and several others indicted for illegal voting in the leadup to the 2024 presidential election into "political props." "Doesn't that just seem a little fishy, the timing of this," the outlet quoted Brown as saying to an attorney from Yost's office. "Couldn't a person conclude that it was timed specifically to undermine confidence in the vote?" The outlet said the attorney from the AG's office responded that they were uncomfortable answering the question. In an April court filing, Brown called the timing of the indictments "unusual" and noted the media coverage surrounding them and public comments from Yost after the indictments were filed. Assistant Public Defender Kristen Eby, representing the woman, says in a motion requesting dismissal that the woman registered to vote while at the DMV to renew her driver's license. "The registrar told her that she needed to register to vote, given the amount of time that she had been in the United States (30+ years), so she did," court records say. "There is no way to identify, let alone locate, that employee. Even if we identified and located the employee, there is little chance that they would remember one person that they served one time several years ago." The woman, a legal permanent resident, did not indicate on her registration form that she was a citizen and voted in November 2018. In 2020, after Secretary of State Frank LaRose requested an investigation into voter fraud across Ohio, an Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation agent went to the woman's home and spoke with a relative. That relative said, according to court records, that after the woman had received a notice in the mail from the Secretary of State's office demanding she cancel her voter registration, she did so. According to court records, the case was closed in December 2020 without a prosecution. In 2021, another investigator spoke with the woman and verified that she had not said she was a citizen on her registration form. That investigator took the case to the Franklin County Prosecutor's office. "The prosecutor stated that they would not prosecute ... if she did not indicate that she was a United States citizen on her voter registration card," court records say. The woman's attorney says the prosecution, which Yost's office is handling, is "politically-motivated" and "timed to capitalize on voters' fears of election fraud, despite the fact that they have shown to be unfounded." Brown did not rule on the motion to dismiss during the May 15 hearing. He scheduled another hearing for June 16 to discuss any other motions that might be filed and potentially rule on the motion to dismiss. Two other Franklin County cases alleging illegal voting are currently scheduled for trial in June and July. The defendant in one of those cases, a woman who court records say believed she was naturalized as a citizen as a child when her mother became naturalized, is also asking for her case to be dismissed. Judge Andy Miller, also a Democrat, presided over that case and has not ruled. Reporter Bethany Bruner can be reached at bbruner@ or on Bluesky at @ This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Franklin County judge questions motive, timing of illegal voting charges
USA Today
01-05-2025
- Business
- USA Today
Finance influencer with more than a million followers charged with fraud in Ponzi scheme
Finance influencer with more than a million followers charged with fraud in Ponzi scheme Show Caption Hide Caption Con-artist who stole millions in Ponzi scheme sentenced to 18 years A globe-trotting con artist who defrauded 237 victims out of $24.5 million to fund a lavish lifestyle was sentenced to 18 years in federal prison. unbranded - Newsworthy Social media finance influencer Tyler Bossetti, 31, of Columbus, Ohio, faces federal charges for allegedly defrauding investors of over $11 million. Bossetti promised high returns on investments for property flipping, but federal prosecutors say he allegedly misused funds for personal luxuries and cryptocurrency ventures. Despite the charges, Bossetti remains active on social media, soliciting clients for credit improvement services. A social media finance influencer with more than a million followers faces federal charges accusing him of defrauding investors of more than $11 million. Tyler Bossetti, 31, is charged in U.S. District Court in Columbus, Ohio, with wire fraud and aiding in the filing of a false or fraudulent document. Bossetti encouraged investors to give him money that they would see high returns on, sometimes 30% or more, for flipping properties, according to court records. However, Bossetti used the money in other ways, including personal luxury housing and vehicles and cryptocurrency investments that resulted in large losses, court records say. In June 2022, Bossetti wired himself $900,000 through an interstate wire transfer. Bossetti would pay for the losses he incurred with the investments of new investors, court records say. Between September 2019 and June 2023, Bossetti received more than $20 million in investments, court records say. Investors lost more than $11.2 million, according to court records. Franklin County Common Pleas Court records show Bossetti and his brands, Boss Lifestyle LLC and Bossetti Enterprises LLC, have had at least 12 civil lawsuits filed against them in 2023 and 2024, several of which remain open and ongoing. The lawsuits are all related to alleged mishandling of money or lost investments. Bossetti has garnered a following on social media, where he has more than 1 million followers on Instagram and has hosted the "All for Nothing" podcast. Bossetti also has a Substack page with more than 88,000 followers. That page has remained active, with posts as recent as April 25, where he solicited people looking to improve their credit to reach out to his team. In the April 25 post, Bossetti wrote that he could see the "keyboard warriors" who have submitted fake forms to his website and that he is not trying to convince the "peasant trolls" that he can get results. "You don't stop a machine by throwing shade — you just prove it's working," the post states. "So to the ones who are serious about breaking free and leveling up financially, let's work. The rest? Stay broke, bitter and busy watching." A court date for Bossetti has not yet been set, according to U.S. District Court records. Reporter Bethany Bruner can be reached at bbruner@ or on Bluesky at @
Yahoo
12-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Eligible Ohioans could receive thousands in COVID checks, if Gov. DeWine asks for the cash
Ohioans receiving weekly unemployment checks from federal COVID-19 relief funds during peak pandemic days could see those checks again, if the governor asks for the money. A Franklin County judge ordered Republican Gov. Mike DeWine's administration Wednesday to request available funds as part of the Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation (FPUC) program to reinstate weekly payments he prematurely cut off in June of 2021. It's not yet clear when those payments could be in the pockets of Ohioans or when DeWine will ask for them, but the payments averaged $300 per week over a ten week period. The supplement checks were scheduled to go through the end of September of that year, per the federal government's program, and were issued in addition to state aid and at no cost to Ohio government, according to Marc Dann of DannLaw, who brought the case against the governor's office in 2021. But DeWine, along with several other Republican governors at the time, said they "didn't want it anymore." Judge Michael Holbrook in the Franklin County Common Pleas Court ruled that the DeWine administration violated Ohio law by ending the federal assistance program before its official termination. Holbrook ordered the governor to "take all action necessary" to reinstate those federal benefits and get them from the United States Department of Labor. Dann said his firm was alerted by the federal labor department a few months ago that the money is available, "all DeWine has to do is ask for them." More: Over $300,000 of COVID-19 unemployment benefits fraudulently released, Ohio probe finds A spokesperson for DeWine did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment Wednesday. "These are people who are going to immediately spend all this money to either pay their bills or to buy groceries. They'll be spending this money with Ohio businesses," Dann said. "There's just about $100 million that we could get for free from the federal government that will be injected into Ohio's economy instantly." "All he has to do is ask, so why he didn't do it without a judge telling him to is a fascinating question," Dann said. Samantha Hendrickson is The Dispatch's medical business and health care reporter. She can be reached at shendrickson@ This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: How Ohio residents unemployed during COVID could receive payments
Yahoo
31-01-2025
- Yahoo
Woman facing charges after 3-year-old Ohio boy dies from burns
An Ohio woman is facing charges in connection to the death of a 3-year-old boy. [DOWNLOAD: Free WHIO-TV News app for alerts as news breaks] Laronda Mims, 45, of Columbus, was arrested and indicted by a Franklin County grand jury this week on involuntary manslaughter and child endangering, according to Franklin County Common Pleas Court records. TRENDING STORIES: Driver killed after vehicle hits utility pole, rolls over in Moraine 'Our hearts are broken;' University to mourn student among those killed in DC plane crash Man sentenced after 3-year-old daughter rescued from roach-infested Fairborn apartment Earlier this month, officers were called to an apartment complex in the Franklinton neighborhood on reports of a non-responsive child, our news partner at WBNS reported. When they got to the scene, police found the boy. He was taken to Nationwide Children's Hospital in critical condition. WBNS reported that he later died at the hospital. Court documents indicate Mims was the parent or guardian of the child. More details on what caused the child's burns were not initially released. Mims is expected to be arraigned on charges today. [SIGN UP: WHIO-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter]
