Scioto County Commissioner Bryan Davis is breaking his silence on the bombshell corruption case that has rocked local government—insisting he did nothing wrong amid the growing fallout surrounding disgraced Economic Development Director Robert Horton.
The scandal, which has ensnared multiple officials, exploded when Horton—also head of the Southern Ohio Port Authority (SOPA)—was indicted on Valentine’s Day alongside his wife, Lioubov Horton, on a laundry list of corruption charges. Accused of running a secret cash-grab operation, the couple allegedly funneled bribes and laundered money through a shady LLC, all while faking records and ordering businesses to destroy evidence.
THE PAPER TRAIL:
- October 2022: Commissioner Davis’s wife and Horton’s wife form an LLC tied to a company doing business with the county.
- February 2023: Whispers of corruption surface at a Republican Central Committee meeting.
- The Next Morning: Commissioner Cathy Coleman confronts Davis about the LLC—he insists everything is legal.
- Days Later: Under pressure, Davis’s wife withdraws from the LLC, but by then, the damage is done.
Now, Horton and his wife are facing multiple counts of theft, bribery, fraud, and money laundering, accused of siphoning money from SOPA and the Minford Emergency Ambulance Service. Prosecutors say Horton masked bribes as commissions for his wife, then scrambled to cover his tracks when investigators came knocking.
DID DAVIS PROTECT HORTON?
When the heat turned up, two commissioners voted to suspend Horton after state investigators raided county offices. But shockingly, Davis and Commissioner Coleman overturned the decision—putting Horton back in power!
Davis defended the move, claiming the county would have collapsed financially if Horton had been booted. He painted a doomsday scenario: unpaid debts, financial defaults, and lawsuits against the county.
“This is a nation of laws. Innocent until proven guilty,” Davis declared.
He insisted that at the time, there was no indictment, and firing Horton could have triggered a massive financial meltdown. “By a sliver of a hair, disaster was avoided,” Davis claimed.
As the scandal continues to unravel, Davis urged patience, saying:
“There’s a lot of innuendo, a lot of falsehoods.”
“Grand juries only get one side of the story.”
“A lot of people are making stuff up!”
WHAT’S NEXT?
With Horton facing serious jail time and Scioto County’s political scene in chaos, all eyes are now on Davis. Did he act in the county’s best interest—or is he just another player in this corruption circus?
Stay tuned—because this scandal is far from over!