DOVER, Ohio — The Ohio Ethics Commission announced Wednesday that a Tuscarawas County grand jury has convicted Dover Mayor Richard Homrighausen of multiple ethics and public corruption charges for pocketing money from wedding fees the city was supposed to receive.
Homrighausen was found guilty Thursday of one felony count of theft in office, four misdemeanor counts of receiving improper compensation and one misdemeanor count of dereliction of duty.
An anonymous complaint to authorities prompted an investigation by the Ohio Ethics Commission and the Ohio Auditor of State's Special Investigation Unit as well as members of Dover City Council.
Authorities allege Homrighausen accepted money for conducting weddings as mayor but pocketed the fees instead of turning them over to the city.
In total, the mayor received $9,295 for performing 231 wedding ceremonies between January 2014 and May 2021, authorities said. A separate audit of the city's finances found it didn't have an ordinance on the book outlining a policy depositing money obtained via wedding fees.
Authorities say Homrighausen didn't claim the fees on his federal, state or local taxes or declare the payments on ethics financial disclosure forms.
Dover City Council President Shane Gunnoe, who is currently serving as interim mayor, called for Homrighausen's resignation back in March, stating Homrighausen "violated the trust of the people of Dover and must be accountable for his actions."
RELATED: Dover mayor indicted, facing public corruption charges for pocketing city fees
You can watch News 5's previous coverage of the allegations the mayor faced in the player below:
Download the News 5 Cleveland app now for more stories from us, plus alerts on major news, the latest weather forecast, traffic information and much more. Download now on your Apple device here, and your Android device here.
You can also catch News 5 Cleveland on Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, YouTube TV, DIRECTV NOW, Hulu Live and more. We're also on Amazon Alexa devices. Learn more about our streaming options here.
