Criminal charge against former Lakota school board member Darbi Boddy dismissed

LIBERTY TOWNSHIP, Ohio – Former Lakota School Board Member Darbi Boddy no longer faces a criminal charge related to a court order requiring her to stay 500 feet away from another board member, Isaac Adi.

The Butler County Sheriff’s Office cited Boddy with violating the order when she attended the same school board meeting as Adi on Nov. 17.

The misdemeanor charge was dismissed Thursday in Butler County Area 2 Court at the request of Adi and an assistant county prosecutor.

Adi told FOX19 after the brief hearing he just wanted to put this all behind him. He also said he did not want to have to testify during a jury trial.

“I have to have my life back. I want to be free,” he said. “All I want is to be free and not have anyone trying to impose their will on me.”

Violation of a protection order is a first-degree misdemeanor in Ohio, punishable by up to a $1,000 fine and six months in jail.

Boddy has lost all efforts to overturn the protection order and in March was removed from the school board and replaced after missing meetings for 90 days.

Civil stalking protection order issued in September 2023

The civil stalking protection order was issued Sept. 20, 2023, by Butler County Common Pleas Court Magistrate Matthew Reed and remains in effect through Sept. 20, 2025.

Adi and Boddy once campaigned together but Adi claimed in his August 2023 application for court protection from her that he was under “mental distress” because his relationship with Boddy “has deteriorated to the point that Ms. Boddy is “extremely aggressive toward me and has become very confrontational.”

Adi cited a series of events he described as harassing and impacting his health and then said under oath at a Sept. 15, 2023, hearing all the distress over this resulted in his hospitalization a few months earlier, in July 2023.

Boddy testified that she didn’t mean any ill will against Adi. She said she was just calling him out for not being conservative when she felt he should be conservative, for not voting conservative and for supporting the former superintendent.

Boddy’s lawyer argued last year Ohio’s stalking law is being used as a “sword” against Boddy to quiet her conservative voice.

Magistrate Reed, however, disagreed.

Boddy’s actions, he wrote in his decision, “are more than just expressing political ideas, they are actions sharply directed at another individual as to exert undue pressure on them to conform to her beliefs or punish them for not changing their beliefs.”

Criminal case resolved, contempt case continues

Boddy waived her right to appear in court Thursday so she was not there but she's pleased with the prosecutor agreeing to dismiss the case, said her attorney, Curt Hartman.

"As a result, we are unable to explore in this forum why, after a detective with the Butler County Sheriff’s Office opened the door and beckoned Ms. Boddy to enter, Ms. Boddy was then cited with violating the protection order," Hartman said. “Also, unanswered is why the Butler County Sheriff’s Office thought five to six detectives needed to be on the scene just to issue a citation, as opposed to doing their job and investigating real crimes occurring in Butler County.”

Sheriff Richard Jones declined to comment Thursday, referring FOX19 to Prosecutor Mike Gmoser, who is out of town and also did not provide a response when asked.

Boddy still faces multiple allegations of contempt related to the protection order in civil court, including an incident Adi’s attorney alleges in court filings occurred at the Costco store in Liberty Township back in March.

The civil contempt cases were on hold until the criminal case was resolved.

A telephone conference is now scheduled for 1:30 p.m. Wednesday with Butler County Common Pleas Court Judge Greg Howard.

Late Thursday, Boddy said it was "profoundly misleading" to say she had a problem with Adi because he was not "conservative enough."

"I have been very clear that my problem with Isaac is that he ran as a conservative and then turned his back on his supporters of which I was one," Boddy said in a statement sent to Fox19. "I not only campaigned with Isaac, but I donated to his campaign.

Boddy said she never followed Adi anywhere and never saw him outside of board-related events. She said Aid "does not have the character or the emotional stability to serve the community as an elected official."

“This has always been a First Amendment issue," she said. "This corrupt process has quashed not just my voice, but the voices of those who voted for me. For that reason, I do not think it will wear well."

This report was provided by Enquirer media partner Fox19 .

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Criminal charge against former Lakota school board member Darbi Boddy dismissed