Special Judge Mark Raines has dismissed a theft charge pending against School Board Elect Larry Grohn. The state prosecutor assigned to the case also agreed to the dismissal.
“We are very pleased that the judge as well as the state prosecutor all concluded that no crime was committed in this case,” said Bryan Hoss of Davis & Hoss P.C. "Dismissing a case like this before any hearing shows not just how weak this case was, but that there never should have been charges filed in the first place. It was a total waste of law enforcement resources. For two political candidates to waste law enforcement resources like this for political gain is really ridiculous.”
Attorney Hoss said, "The evidence in the case showed that candidate Grohn initially removed two campaign signs of John Brooks, an unsuccessful candidate for Hamilton County district attorney, which were blocking Mr.
Grohn’s campaign signs. While the removal was witnessed by Mr. Grohn’s opponent Katie Perkins, the evidence also showed that Mr. Grohn offered to return the signs to the Brooks campaign office but the Brooks campaign refused to respond. Shortly thereafter, Mr. Grohn returned the signs to their same area where they were initially placed.
Mr. Grohn said, “It is unfortunate that individuals can file false and slanderous claims with hardly a shred of evidence in an attempt to get elected. On the campaign trail, I had voters who unfortunately believed what they read which proved to be false. They had been misled. Thankfully, the Judge and even the Prosecutor agreed that there was no case. I look forward to moving past this and serving the citizens in District 8 and Hamilton County.”
Mr. Grohn, a former member of the City Council and mayoral candidate, was recently elected to represent District 8 on the Hamilton County School Board. He takes office on Sept.