Former Middletown airport manager has charges reduced

Dickten retired from the city in August 2020.

When Dickten appeared Thursday before visiting Middletown Municipal Court Judge Tom Hannah, his charges were reduced to menacing and disorderly conduct.

On the menacing charged, he was sentenced to 30 days in jail with 30 days suspended. He was fined $250 with $150 suspended. He also was ordered to stay away from Richard Bevis and Lisa Bouchez for two years, according to court records.

John Hart II, owner of Start Skydiving, based at the airport, wrote in an email to The Journal-News that “needless to say we are very disappointed in how this criminal prosecution was handled.”

Hart II said Doug Atkins, former Middletown city manager, works in the same law office with Traci Combs Valerio, the special prosecutor assigned by Middletown Assistant City Manager Susan Cohen. He said this was “a conflict of interest” since Dickten and Combs Valerio worked for Adkins when this criminal act occurred.

Cohen, in an email to the Journal-News, said it’s “unfortunate” that Hart feels he was not treated fairly by the work of a visiting prosecuting attorney and a visiting judge.

She said the city of Middletown strives to “promote the full and fair investigation of all criminal allegations,” and the city took numerous steps to help guarantee this matter was addressed impartially.

She said the prosecutor’s office in Middletown worked to secure a visiting prosecuting attorney to prosecute those charges given Hart’s current lawsuit pending against the city. The prosecutor’s office contacted attorneys from Franklin, Lebanon, Germantown and the Ohio Attorney General’s Office about prosecuting these matters. Valerio from Fairfield agreed to take the case, Cohen said.

She said Hart’s allegations of collusion are “simply not true.”

Middletown, she said, is unaware of any professional arrangement with Adkins and Combs Valerio.

Hart II addressed Judge Hanna during Dickten’s sentencing what he called “heartbreaking.

“What has occurred in Middletown to our family business is something the everyday Middletown citizen would think, ‘This could not be possible,’” he said, reading from a statement. “Until this happened, I would have never imagined that public employees would collude and violate the civil rights of our family-owned business.”

Middletown police were contacted Sept. 15 by Hart II, who alleged hacking, corporate economic espionage and illegal recordings by city employees at the Middletown Regional Airport.

The investigation was completed Dec. 8 and was reviewed by an outside prosecutor, who recommended filing charges. Hart II signed the complaint Dec. 22.