COLUMBUS – A former Miami Township trustee has been ordered to pay $28,168 in restitution and audit costs after admitting he unlawfully pocketed funds that should have gone to the Logan County Township, Auditor of State Keith Faber announced.

Ronald Furrow also is barred from public service for seven years and subject to one year of community control after he pleaded guilty to a felony count of grand theft and a misdemeanor count of soliciting or accepting improper compensation.

Furrow offered his plea and was sentenced Tuesday in Logan County Common Pleas Court.

The Auditor of State’s Special Investigations Unit (SIU) received a complaint in November 2021 alleging Furrow instructed that a check for payment of concrete footers installed under a headstone at Fairview Cemetery be made out to him instead of Miami Township.

SIU determined customers had paid Furrow, who served as an elected township trustee since 1982 and as the cemetery sexton for more than a decade, a total more than $12,091 when those funds should have been remitted to township accounts.

Tuesday’s court order included a total of $13,591 in restitution to Miami Township and a separate individual victim, plus $14,577 in audit costs to the Auditor of State’s Office and the Township.

Since 2019, the Special Investigations Unit has assisted in 104 convictions resulting in more than $5 million in restitution (see?Map of SIU Convictions?since January 2019). The team receives hundreds of tips of suspected fraud annually. Tips can be submitted anonymously online or via SIU’s fraud hotline at 866-FRAUD-OH (866-372-8364).

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The Auditor of State’s office, one of five independently elected statewide offices in Ohio is responsible for auditing more than 5,900 state and local government agencies. Under the direction of Auditor Keith Faber, the office also provides financial services to local governments, investigates and prevents fraud in public agencies, and promotes transparency in government. 

Public Affairs
Contact: Marc Kovac
press@ohioauditor.gov