In The News 10 December 2025

Montgomery County Clerk of Courts pleads guilty to solicitation of political contributions

Ohio Auditor of State

COLUMBUS — Montgomery County Clerk of Courts Mike Foley pleaded guilty Monday to two misdemeanor counts of solicitation of political contributions from public employees.

The admissions came prior to the start of a jury trial in Montgomery County Common Pleas Court, and he was sentenced to two years of community control, fined $2,000 plus court costs, and ordered to complete 40 hours of public service.

“The facts are clear: Clerk Foley engaged in illegal activity, soliciting campaign contributions from his staff,” Auditor of State Keith Faber said. “We held these officials accountable, and Judge James Piergies and Foley paid the price for their actions. Justice was done.”

The Auditor of State’s Special Investigations Unit (SIU) launched an investigation after receiving an anonymous complaint in October 2022 alleging solicitation of campaign contributions from employees and other improper political activities by Foley.

SIU attorneys served as special prosecutor in the case.

Foley’s sentence included prohibitions against alcohol and drug use and retaliation against employees.

Since 2019, the Special Investigations Unit has assisted in 147 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 – and want it to continue – it would be greatly appreciated. Donations to help offset ever-rising expenses 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This is not for publication.
This is not for publication.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.