WestChesterBuzz.com

It all depends on the buyer

As gold prices soar, so do the number of gold buyers and sellers.

That means more work for county auditors, who are tasked with validating the accuracy of scales used to weigh gold at businesses that buy it.

“With all the new stores popping up, it is important that the customers going into the stores are ensuring the scales are properly certified,” said Butler County Auditor Roger Reynolds. “With the increased value of gold it has required us to be more active.”

In Southwest Ohio, auditors from Butler, Warren, Clermont and Hamilton counties in 2012 registered 186 scales from precious metals buyers, up from just 30 in 2009. During that time, the number of certification violations increased from zero to 21. If a test fails, the audior’s office has the ability to confiscate scales but cannot make an arrest.

Reynolds and his office recently purchased a set of Class II weights to test scales for $2,400. Most counties can’t afford the weights and make each business hire a third party to inspect their scales, according to the Ohio Department of Agriculture Division of Weights and Measures.

But having their own weights saves auditors money in the long run, Reynolds said.

“With the increased demand and our need to be out in the field to test scales, we went ahead and purchased a Class II weight set,” Reynolds said. “What that allows us to do is go out and test the stores. In the past, the stores had their scale tested by an outside vendor and we would have to be there to oversee it.”

Gold prices have soared since 2000, but gold is only worth what someone is wiling to pay, said Lyn Tolan, spokeswoman for the Ohio Department of Commerce.

“Consumers have to be as vigilant as ever,” Tolan said. “They should always seek out three independent valuations with at least one of those coming from a qualified jeweler. Also, never send items out of state.”

When selling gold, Reynolds recommends checking to see if the scale has been certified by your county auditor. Once certified, the scale is sealed, similar to the seal one would see on a gas station pump. A broken seal may be a sign of tampering.

Posted in: Business, News |

Tags: Tags: Butler County Auditor, Butler County Auditor Roger Reynolds, Butler County Auditor's Office, gold, gold buying Butler County, gold buying Cincinnati

Kay Rogers covers her face as she walks out of federal court in downtown Cincinnati after being sentenced to two years in prison on fraud charges in July of 2011. Photo taken by Liz Dufour.

Sheila McLaughlin reports:

Update: A federal judge refused Tuesday to let former Butler County Auditor Mary “Kay” Rogers out of prison early.

Rogers, who is serving a two-year sentence for wire and mail fraud, asked Monday to serve the remaining five months of her sentence on home incarceration. Her attorney said Rogers has “suffered tremendously” and needs to support her family.

But U.S. District Judge Sandra Beckwith denied the request Tuesday in a one-page order, saying the request “does not satisfy the terms” that would allow an early release.

Earlier story: Could former Butler County auditor Kay Rogers be home for Christmas?

That’s what she wants.

Rogers, sent to federal prison for two years in a fiber optics scandal that rocked Butler County, has asked U.S. District Judge Sandra Beckwith to release her on home incarceration for the remainder of her sentence, which ends in May 2013.

In a motion filed Monday, Rogers’ attorney Brad Kraemer said Rogers has a $50,000-a-year job waiting for her. An attached letter from Steven Potter, Rogers’ former boss, says Rogers would check tax returns, work on clients’ books and set up accounting systems for clients.

Kay Rogers. Provided photo.

“(Rogers) has six children and has suffered tremendously for her mistakes and has already suffered tremendous losses,” Kraemer wrote. “She is tremendously remorseful for her offenses and would like the opportunity to return to being a productive member of society.”

Rogers pleaded guilty more than three years ago to conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud and to filing a false income tax return. She was sentenced in July 2011 to Kentucky Federal Woman’s Camp in Lexington, Ky. She’s also been ordered to pay back $4 million that two banks lost in the Dynus scandal.

Rogers was accused of signing several documents on behalf of the county wrongly certifying that Dynus had a multimillion contract for a 100-mile fiber optics network. Her signature allowed Dynus executives to walk off with the money.

The federal probe resulted in the conviction of several Dynus executives. A spin-off investigation involving public corruption sent former Butler County Commissioner Michael A. Fox to federal prison for four years.

While in prison, Rogers has worked as an orderly and for a prison counselor, Kraemer’s motion said. She also was on a cleaning crew that was allowed to work at a building off prison grounds and has co-chaired community relations projects and other events, he said.

No hearing has been set for Rogers’ request.

Posted in: Crime, News |

Tags: Tags: attorney Konrad Kircher, Butler County Auditor, Butler County crime, crime, Dynus, Dynus case, Jim Smith, Kay Rogers, Konrad Kircher, Liberty Township crime, Sandra Beckwith, u.s. district judge sandra beckwith, West Chester crime

Kay Rogers covers her face as she walks out of federal court in downtown Cincinnati after being sentenced to two years in prison on fraud charges in July of 2011. Photo taken by Liz Dufour.

Sheila McLaughlin reports

Former Butler County Auditor Kay Rogers has to shell out $58,967.74 from her savings to start paying off a $4 million tab in a fiberoptics scandal that landed her in federal prison.

Federal authorities wanted to garnish all of the money — $250,000 — from Rogers’ retirement accounts. But Rogers had argued that her children needed something to live on and pay the mortgage while she was in prison for two years.

Rogers’ attorney Konrad Kircher said the settlement, signed by a magistrate on Friday, was reasonable.

“They understand the family situation. They understand that Kay has suffered tremendously already,” Kircher said Monday. “There’s no sense in beating her down so far that she’ll never get up.”

The settlement takes $25,000 from Rogers’ 401(k) and $33,967.74, which is everything in her IRA account.

Kircher has said that Rogers’s 26-year-old son, Sean, is handling family finances while his mother is in prison and was using the retirement account to pay the mortgage and care for the other children, including two minors. Rogers is a single mother of six.

Rogers pleaded guilty more than three years ago to conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud to to filing a false income tax return. She was sentenced last July.

Federal authorities wanted Rogers’ money to pay back some of the $4 million that banks lost in the Dynus case. The scandal reached into Butler County government and resulted in four convictions, including Dynus executives.

Rogers was accused of signing several documents on behalf of the county wrongly certifying that Dynus had a multimillion contract for a 100-mile fiber optics network. Her signature allowed Dynus executives to walk off with the money.

The recent settlement involving Rogers guarantees that federal officials won’t go after her retirement accounts provided no significant deposits are made into them.

But that doesn’t get Rogers off the hook completely, Kircher said.

She’ll have to get a job and set up a payment plan with the government “to try to work off $4 million,” he said.

Posted in: Crime, News |

Tags: Tags: attorney Konrad Kircher, Butler County Auditor, Butler County crime, crime, Dynus, Dynus case, Jim Smith, Kay Rogers, Konrad Kircher, Liberty Township crime, Sandra Beckwith, u.s. district judge sandra beckwith, West Chester crime

To let West Chester and Liberty Township residents catch up with the news that they need to know, WestChesterBuzz.com will list and link to all of last week’s top local stories every Monday. (Stories are listed in order of date)

Lakota schools’ budget ax falls – The Lakota school board approved just more than $10.5 million in budget cuts for next school year at its meeting last Monday. Overall the school district will cut 141 teaching, classroom specialist, school nurse and school staff positions, in addition to nine school and central office administrators, according to The Enquirer.

Kay Rogers pleads to keep her savings – Former Butler County Auditor Kay Rogers’s attorney asked a federal judge to intervene last Monday to stop federal prosecutors from following through with the garnishment of about $250,000 in retirement savings, according to The Enquirer. According to her attorney, without her savings she will be “unable to support her family” upon her release.

Parents worry about Lakota’s future – The Enquirer’s education reporter Michael D. Clark wrote a story about the parents and their concerns after the Lakota school board made roughly $10.5 in cuts last Monday.

Lakota freshman visits spring training as MLB.com writer – An exceptionally gifted writer from Lakota West Freshman School in West Chester visited spring training sites last week and interviewed dozens of baseball players for MLB.com.

Lakota East students make video to stop cyber bullying – Lakota East and Butler Tech digital media arts students are participating in The Great American NO BULL Challenge in order to fight and bring awareness to cyber bullying. The NO BULL Challenge is a video contest where teens create a two-to-five minute video on how to combat cyber bullying. The local students’ solution is simple – “Post Positive.”

Lakota West grad Matt Klinker retires from pro baseball – After bouncing between the Cincinnati Reds’ AAA and AA minor league teams for the past three seasons, West Chester native Matt Klinker has decided to retire from the game of baseball and is currently training to become a salesman for Pipe Products.

NoLakota spokesman booted after controversial blog post – A blog posted by Rich Hoffman, who up until last week was the spokesman for the anti-school tax levy group NoLakota, went viral and offended many community members. In the post, Hoffman was very descriptive on his opinion of Lakota mothers, who he referred to as “prostitutes.” After The Enquirer featured the post’s content in a separate article, Hoffman was banned from further association with NoLakota. Hoffman has since responded to The Enquirer article on his blog Overmanwarrior’s Wisdom.

Local businesswoman Liz Rogers in the news again – Liberty Township resident Liz Rogers was in and out of the news this past week after she surrendered to authorities on a warrant related to a debt. Later in the week, she would pay off the debt and criticized the media. Rogers’ financial situation has become newsworthy after the city of Cincinnati decided to give her and her husband nearly $1 million in funds to open a soul food restaurant at The Banks.

Lakota West community mourns the loss of a student -A Lakota West junior died and four other students were injured in an automobile crash Friday night. Ezekiel “Zeke” Stepaniak of Liberty Township was the junior who died. Lakota West sophomore Ashley Stacy, 16, was treated for serious injuries at Miami Valley Hospital in Dayton. According to the school district, her condition has improved. The school district is making counselors available this week at both Lakota West High School and Lakota West Freshman School.

Posted in: Board of Education, Crime, Levy news, News, Schools, Sports, Student achievements |

Tags: Tags: Ashley Stacy, Butler County Auditor, Butler County crime, Butler Tech, Cameron Winters, Cincinnati Reds, Cincinnati Reds baseball, Cincinnati Reds spring training, crime, Cyber Bullying, cyber bullying Butler Tech, cyber bullying Lakota East, Dynus, Jim Smith, Kay Rogers, Lakota, Lakota athletic cuts, Lakota cuts, Lakota East, Lakota elementary cuts, Lakota high school cuts, Lakota junior high cuts, Lakota Local Schools, Lakota preschool, Lakota preschool cuts, Lakota preschool program, Lakota reductions, Lakota school levy, Lakota West, Lakota West baseball, Lakota West sports, Lakota West student death, Liberty Township business news, Liberty Township crime, liz rogers, Liz Rogers Liberty Township, mahogany's bar and grill, mahogany's bar and grill banks, Matt Klinker, Matt Klinker Cincinnati Reds, Matt Klinker retires, Meggie Zahneis, Nathan Phu, NO BULL Challenge video contest, No Lakota, No Lakota levy, NoLakota, NoLakota Levy, Rich Hoffman, Sandra Beckwith, the banks, the banks Cincinnati, The Great American NO BULL Challenge, u.s. district judge sandra beckwith, West Chester crime, Zeke Stepaniak

Kay Rogers covers her face as she walks out of federal court in downtown Cincinnati after being sentenced to two years in prison on fraud charges in July of 2011. Photo taken by Liz Dufour.

Dan Horn reports

Former Butler County Auditor Kay Rogers says federal prosecutors will bankrupt her family and leave her children without a home if they seize her retirement savings as part of her punishment for fraud crimes.

Her lawyer described the attempt to take the money as a “draconian action” and asked a federal judge on Monday to intervene on Rogers’ behalf.

He said Rogers, who is serving a two-year prison sentence, would be unable to support her family or herself after her release if prosecutors follow through with the garnishment of about $250,000 in retirement savings.

“How much more can you destroy a person?” said her attorney, Konrad Kircher. “This garnishment goes way beyond punishment. This would prevent her from ever living a normal life again.”

Federal prosecutors could not be reached Monday, but they asked U.S. District Judge Sandra Beckwith last month to approve a request to seize Rogers’ retirement accounts. They said the goal is to help recover some of the $4 million lost in the Dynus fiber-optics scandal that shook Butler County and resulted in four criminal convictions.

Rogers, a single mother of six children, pleaded guilty more than three years ago to conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud and to filing a false income tax return. She was sent to prison last July.

Prosecutors described Rogers as a catalyst for the scandal and said she signed several documents on behalf of the county wrongly certifying that Dynus had completed certain work in a multimillion-dollar deal to recruit customers for a 100- mile fiber optics network.

Without her signature, prosecutors say, National City Bank would not have released about $4 million in loans for the project. The judge ordered all of the defendants to repay the money, which gave prosecutors the ability to seek assets wherever they could find them.

Kircher said taking Rogers’ entire retirement savings, including her 401K, would leave her “unable to support her family … and without incentive to become a productive citizen” upon her release.

He said Rogers’ 26-year-old son, Sean, is handling family finances while Rogers is in prison and is using the retirement savings to pay the mortgage and to cover expenses for the other children, including two minors.

Posted in: Crime, News |

Tags: Tags: Butler County Auditor, Butler County crime, crime, Dynus, Jim Smith, Kay Rogers, Liberty Township crime, Sandra Beckwith, u.s. district judge sandra beckwith, West Chester crime

Below is the full article written by Sheila McLaughlin for the Cincinnati Enquirer.

How well do Butler County retailers fare in getting their prices right?

The answer is a few mouse clicks away.

On Tuesday, Butler County Auditor Roger Reynolds began posting the results of price verification inspections on his website, www.butlercountyauditor.org.

Clermont and Warren counties conduct price checks but don’t put the information online. Hamilton County quit performing regular price inspections and posting results online three years ago because of budget cuts.

“Most people are unaware of the service. People don’t have acess to the data. It’s not readily available,” Reynolds said of his decision to post the inspection results online.

He thinks making the information more available to the public will encourage retailers to do a better job of pricing accurately so they don’t wind up on the flunker’s list.

Speedway was the worst offender this year, according to spot checks by Reynolds’ staff. Inspections at eight locations in Middletown, Monroe, West Chester Township, Fairfield, Hamilton and Oxford showed that anywhere from 4 percent to 22 percent of the items tested were mispriced.

A store flunks the inspection if 2 percent of the items tested are wrong, he said. Inspectors check the shelf price against the price that scans up at the cash register.

Reynolds said his office reported Speedway to the state for a possible fine. Speedway officials are looking into the problem and will take whatever corrective action is needed, corporate spokesman Jamal Kheiry said. (more…)

Posted in: Government, News |

Tags: Tags: Butler County Auditor, Butler County Auditor Roger Reynolds, price verification inspections, price verification inspections Butler County, price verification inspections West Chester

Butler County school districts, cities, villages, townships and county agencies that receive levy funding are getting a $1 million refund, according to a report on Cincinnati.com.

As part of the refund, the Lakota school district will receive $238,000, West Chester Township will receive $63,000 and Liberty Township will receive $20,000.

Cincinnati Enquirer reporter Sheila McLaughlin covered the story:

The money, Auditor Roger Reynolds said, comes from service fees the auditor’s office by law charges to collect levy money for the governments. Fees collected for each government are set by the state and are related to the size of the levy collected.

Reynolds credits severe cutbacks in his own budget – slashing operating costs nearly in half since he took office in 2008 – and the efficiency and dedication of his employees for being able to give back the money.

The previous office budget of $4.3 has dropped to $2.2 million a year and staffing has been reduced from 77 employees to 41, he said.

“What once was a spend-it-or-lose-it mentality is now a save-it-and-return-it commitment to the taxpayers of Butler County,” said Reynolds, who was re-elected last year.

Reynolds has returned $2 million in service fees and Monday’s amount was the largest ever. In the 14 years before he took office, $600,000 was returned, auditor officials said.

“The refund in no way is going to solve all the budget challenges facing our local governments but it will certainly help,” Reynolds said.

For the entire story, which includes quotes from township trustees and a quote from Lakota’s treasurer, visit Cincinnati.com’s post “Butler Counter auditor distributes $1 million.”

Posted in: News |

Tags: Tags: Auditor Roger Reynolds, Butler County Auditor, Butler County Auditor Roger Reynolds, Butler County Auditor's Office, refund, Roger Reynolds

The final defendant, Jim Smith, in a fiber-optics scandal that sucked in a number of Butler County officials was sentenced Tuesday to 15 months in prison for a scheme that bilked two local banks out of $10 million in loans and lines of credit, according to a report on Cincinnati.com.

Sheila McLaughlin covered the story for the Cincinnati Enquirer:

Government officials called Jim Smith “the face of Dynus.” But prosecutors had suggested the reduced sentence after Smith, the former president of Dynus Corp., helped them bring down three others in the scam, including former Butler County Auditor Kay Rogers. She was sentenced last week to two years in federal prison.

They were accused of participating in the fraud by misrepresenting that Dynus had a contract with Butler County commissioners to build a fiber-optics system so the company could obtain multi-million dollar loans.

“I could easily see giving him 24 months like Ms. Rogers,” U.S. District Judge Sandra Beckwith said after announcing that she would follow prosecutors’ recommendation for Smith’s prison term.

“He was a top level with the company and central to all the assorted schemes. He was a source of some of these bright ideas that (robbed) two federal institutions of millions of dollars.”

Smith, 43, of Lebanon, had asked for one day of incarceration while probation officials had recommended two years. The crimes he committed – bank fraud and failing to file a tax return – carried a sentence of 41 to 51 months according to federal guidelines.

Smith’s sentencing came four years after he pleaded guilty to those charges. He will be permitted to turn himself in to the U.S. Bureau of Prisons at an unspecified date and has asked to serve his time at a detention facility in Ashland, Ky.

For the entire story, visit “Last defendant in Dynus case sentenced.”

Posted in: Crime, News |

Tags: Tags: Butler County Auditor, crime, Dynus, Jim Smith, Kay Rogers, Sandra Beckwith, u.s. district judge sandra beckwith

Former Butler County Auditor Kay Rogers of West Chester was sentenced to two years in prison Tuesday for her role in the Dynus fiber-optics scandal that rocked the county, according to Cincinnati.com.

Sheila McLaughlin covered the story for the Cincinnati Enquirer:

U.S. District Judge Sandra Beckwith followed a prosecutor’s sentencing recommendation, even though a probation report suggested that Rogers, a single mother of six, receive probation after pleading guilty more than three years ago to conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud and for filing a false income tax return.

“The sentence must promote respect for the law,” Beckwith told Rogers. “The sentence will send a message. It should be a (deterrent) for conduct of this type for other elected officials.”

A date has not been set for Rogers to turn herself into the U.S. Bureau of Prisons to begin serving her sentence, but her lawyer said that should happen in two to three months.

Rogers sniffled as she apologized to the citizens of Butler County, her family and friends before Beckwith handed down the sentence. The Cincinnati courtroom was packed with about 60 of Rogers’ supporters, including former West Chester Township trustee, Jose Alvarez.

“I got in over my head and made a very, very, very bad decision,” Rogers said.

Beckwith also ordered Rogers to pay a portion of the $4 million that National City Bank lost in its bogus deal with Dynus Corp. She’ll share restitution with other defendants who are already in prison or headed there.

Rogers will be on probation for three to five years when she is released from prison.

For the entire story, visit Cincinnati.com’s story “Ex-Butler Co. auditor Kay Rogers sentenced to two years in prison.”

Posted in: Crime, News |

Tags: Tags: Butler County Auditor, crime, Dynus, Kay Rogers, Sandra Beckwith, u.s. district judge sandra beckwith

Federal sentencing guidelines suggest that former Butler County Auditor Kay Rogers should spend 51 to 63 months in prison when she is sentenced Tuesday morning for participating in a scheme with Dynus Corp. officials to defraud National City Bank of about $4 million and for tax evasion, according to a report in June from the Cincinnati Enquirer.

U.S. District Judge Sandra Beckwith is scheduled to sentence Rogers, who is single mother of six and a resident of West Chester, at noon in federal court downtown.

Below is a portion of last month’s report from the Enquirer’s Sheila McLaughlin.

Rogers was accused of helping the now-defunct Dynus borrow millions of dollars for a deal it didn’t have with Butler County to recruit customers for a 100-mile fiber-optics network.

“She has given a tremendous amount of assistance to the government,” said Rogers’ attorney Konrad Kircher. “She’s been wired in at least 100 face-to-face conversations and she’s put in hundreds of hours of time assisting these investigations. A lot of the people in the county knew she was doing it and shunned her for it.”

Rogers pleaded guilty Dec. 13, 2007 to charges of conspiracy to commit bank fraud as well as tax fraud in a federal investigation that led to the convictions of Dynus owner Orlando Carter, company president James Smith and employee Karin Verbruggen.

Dynus’ name surfaced again in the federal indictment of former Butler County Commissioner Michael A. Fox, who will be sentenced later this year in a public corruption case. West Chester Trustee George Lang went to trial and was acquitted of federal perjury charges in the Dynus case.

For more on the story, visit Cincinnati.com’s post “Kay Rogers to be sentenced in Dynus case.”

Posted in: Crime, News |

Tags: Tags: Butler County Auditor, crime, Dynus, Kay Rogers, Sandra Beckwith, u.s. district judge sandra beckwith