Headlines 22 October 2025

Former Galion-Crestline Chamber director indicted 

Ohio Auditor of State

COLUMBUS — The Crawford County Grand Jury has returned an indictment against the former executive director of the Galion-Crestline Area Chamber of Commerce in the alleged theft of more than $60,000.

Miranda Jones faces nine felony counts, including engaging in a pattern of corrupt activities, identity fraud, money laundering, telecommunications fraud, grand theft, and forgery, under the indictment filed in Crawford County Common Pleas Court.

The Auditor of State’s Special Investigations Unit (SIU) launched an investigation after receiving a request from the Crawford County Sheriff’s Office for assistance after Chamber board members discovered the alleged criminal activities.

SIU identified personal purchases made by Jones using the Chamber credit card, falsified records, and improper cash withdrawals, among multiple other schemes by Jones, totaling more than $60,000 in funds allegedly stolen.

Jones was arraigned Monday in Crawford County Common Pleas Court. An SIU attorney was appointed by the Crawford County Prosecutor’s Office to serve as special prosecutor for the case.

Since 2019, the Special Investigations Unit has assisted in 146 convictions resulting in more than $16 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).

* * *

••• Publisher's note: A free press is critical to having well-informed voters and citizens. While some news organizations opt for paid websites or costly paywalls, The Highland County Press has maintained a free newspaper and website for the last 26 years for our community. If you would like to contribute to this service, it would be greatly appreciated. Donations may be made to: The Highland County Press, P.O. Box 849, Hillsboro, Ohio 45133. Please include "for website" on the memo line.

Add new comment

This is not for publication.
This is not for publication.
About text formats

Plain text

  • No HTML tags allowed.
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.
  • Web page addresses and email addresses turn into links automatically.
Article comments are not posted immediately to the Web site. Each submission must be approved by the Web site editor, who may edit content for appropriateness. There may be a delay of 24-48 hours for any submission while the web site editor reviews and approves it. Note: All information on this form is required. Your telephone number and email address is for our use only, and will not be attached to your comment.
CAPTCHA This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions. Image CAPTCHA
Enter the characters shown in the image.