Imprisoned former Ohio House speaker indicted on 10 new state-level felony charges

Larry Householder speaks after guilty verdict. (Photo by: WEWS/WCPO.)

Former Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder is facing 10 new state-level felony charges stemming from alleged ethics violations and misusing campaign finances, according to a news release from the Ohio Attorney General’s Office.

A Cuyahoga County grand jury indicted Householder on the following:

• One count of theft in office (F1)
• Two counts of aggravated theft (F2)
• One count of telecommunications fraud (F2)
• One count of money laundering (F3)
• Five counts of tampering with records (F3)

According to the AG’s Office, the ex-speaker misused campaign money to pay for his federal defense and did not “accurately complete Join Legislative Ethics Committee filings.” If he’s convicted of theft in office, he would be disqualified from holding public office again in Ohio.

Despite his current conviction, Householder is still able to hold a public office when he gets out of prison. Last month, he filed a federal appeal stating that the bribe payment was “within his First Amendment rights.”

Currently, Householder is serving a 20-year prison sentence after being sentenced in federal court on bribery charges last March relating to the FirstEnergy scandal.

Householder was elected to the Ohio House in 2016 and removed from the position in 2020 when he was indicted in federal court. In June 2021, the House expelled him.

This article was originally published on News5Cleveland.com and is published in the Ohio Capital Journal under a content-sharing agreement. Unlike other OCJ articles, it is not available for free republication by other news outlets as it is owned by WEWS in Cleveland.

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