CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Larry Householder, the former speaker of the Ohio House of Representatives who was convicted in federal court of running a $60 million corruption and bribery scheme to benefit FirstEnergy Corp., will not have to sit in the Cuyahoga County Jail as he awaits his trial on state charges tied to the scheme.
Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court Judge Brendan Sheehan this week allowed Householder to appear at his May 13 arraignment via a video stream from the federal prison in Elkton, where he is serving a 20-year sentence. Sheehan had previously granted a request from prosecutors to have Householder transferred to the county jail during the pendency of his case.
Householder hired attorneys Kevin Spellacy and Thomas Shaughnessy, who filed a request to change the in-person arraignment to a video stream. Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost’s office, which is prosecuting Householder, did not oppose the request, according to the court’s docket.
A Cuyahoga County grand jury handed up an indictment last month charging Householder with theft in office, aggravated theft, telecommunications fraud, money laundering and tampering with records, all felonies.
Yost’s office says Householder illegally used campaign funds to pay for his criminal defense during his federal trial, and he lied on ethics disclosure forms that state lawmakers are required to file regularly.
Testimony presented at Householder’s trial last year in federal court in Cincinnati showed that FirstEnergy and its subsidiaries contributed about $60 million to a political nonprofit that Householder effectively controlled. He used the money to help him become House speaker and aid his political allies.
About $514,000 of the money, however, paid down Householder’s legal debts, credit card debts, and home repair bills. In exchange for the money, he championed the passage of House Bill 6, bailout legislation worth more than $1 billion to FirstEnergy.
Householder is serving his prison sentence in the federal prison in Columbiana County. He has appealed his conviction, saying there was no quid pro quo agreement and that his behavior was legal under federal campaign finance law.
Yost’s office also charged Chuck Jones and Michael Dowling, two former leaders of FirstEnergy, and former Public Utilities Commission of Ohio Chair Sam Randazzo in Summit County involving a bribery scheme to help the company.
Jones and Dowling have pleaded not guilty. Randazzo died by suicide earlier this month.