XENIA — A local jeweler who led a campaign against a Bellbrook school levy has been indicted by a Greene County Grand Jury for three election-related crimes.
John Stafford, who owns Stafford’s Diamonds across from the Dayton Mall, is facing felony charges of illegal voting and tampering with evidence, and one misdemeanor charge of failure to provide notice of address change — all related to the November 2o22 election.
According to the indictment, filed in Greene County Common Pleas Court June 16, Stafford is charged with voting in an election in a precinct in which he “was not a legally qualified elector,” a fourth-degree felony;and tampering with evidence, a third-degree felony, in addition to the first-degree misdemeanor charge of failing to provide notice of address change.
Stafford had been a Sugarcreek-Bellbrook School District resident for many years, but his current address was redacted on the copy of the indictment received by the Gazette and the online court records list no address. A special prosecutor from the Ohio Attorney General’s Office will handle the case, according to the indictment and Greene County Prosecuting Attorney David Hayes.
Retired Montgomery County Judge Dennis J. Langer has been assigned to preside over the case.
“A referral was made for charges,” Hayes said Wednesday. “I made the decision to reach out to BCI (Bureau of Criminal Investigation) and the attorney general’s office to handle the investigation and the prosecution should there be a prosecution.”
The original referral came from the Greene County Board of Elections, Hayes said. Neither Hayes nor the board of elections could comment further.
Stafford is the founder of the “Vote No Movement,” which opposed previous Sugarcreek-Bellbrook school levies.
He also filed a pair of lawsuits, one that alleged that the school board and its employees spent public funds to support or oppose the passage of a school levy or bond issue or to compensate any school district employee for time spent on any activity intended to influence the outcome of a school levy or bond issue election.
In the other lawsuit, Stafford alleged the school board violated Ohio election laws by not holding public meetings in which they discuss strategies for promoting the levy.
The Gazette reached out to Stafford for comments on Wednesday.
Reach Scott Halasz at 937-502-4507.
