Feds: Fox failed to report income, peddled influence

Samantha Grier/Robert C. Schuler leaves the Potter Stewart U.S. Courthouse in downtown Cincinnati after a hearing on Thursday, Oct. 29. He and Michael A. Fox have been charged with conspiracy to improperly benefit from Butler County contracts involving a (fiber optics) company doing business with the county," according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

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Michael Fox, pictured in the wheelchair, prepares to attend an indictment hearing with his attorneys in U.S. District Court Thursday, Oct. 29.

By Josh Sweigart and Dave Greber
Staff Writer Updated 6:55 AM Friday, October 30, 2009

Tens of thousands of dollars in campaign kickbacks, mortgage payments and the gift of a horse are all part of 25-page federal indictment against former Butler County Commissioner Michael A. Fox.

The indictment, unsealed Thursday, Oct. 29, in U.S. District Court in Cincinnati, alleges Fox — also a former state representative and executive director of the county’s Children Services — lied about or failed to report personal and political income to the state and the federal government, and used his influence as a commissioner to secure contracts for longtime friends.

Also included in the indictment are federal charges against Columbus attorney Robert C. Schuler, son of the late state senator, and one of the architects of the county’s ill-fated fiber optics network.

Schuler, through his Toledo-based company NORMAP Telecommunications, is accused of receiving a multimillion-dollar contract to build, own and operate the fiber optics system thanks to Fox’s influence. Federal authorities say Schuler then gave Fox $460,000 to return the favor, and later lied to a federal grand jury about the payment.

Fox, 60, is facing four counts of mail fraud and one count each of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and filing a false income tax return. If convicted, he could spend the rest of his life in prison.

Schuler, 46, of Dublin, faces 28 years in prison if convicted on one count each of perjury, conspiracy to commit mail fraud and filing a false income tax return.

Fox and Schuler, decades-long friends, were together Thursday in U.S. District Court to hear the charges against them. Following the hearing, each was released on his own recognizance.

Fox has said himself and through his attorney he plans on fighting the charges.

“I worked hard to serve our people and I made a positive difference on their behalf,” Fox wrote in an e-mail. “Without exception, I have always acted to put the public’s interests first.”

The indictment states Fox, as a county commissioner, helped to secure contracts for at least three local companies, which gave him various amounts of money that he failed to report.

The indictment accuses Fox of failing to report money, gifts, travel expenses and other benefits from a Middletown-based “purported” charitable organization, Chee Chee Rose Ministries, that totaled more than $300,000, including the gift of a horse named “Fabiano.”

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