toledoblade.com -- Prosecutor to charge ex-Taft aide

COLUMBUS — A Columbus prosecutor said yesterday he will file criminal charges against Brian Hicks, the former chief of staff for Gov. Bob Taft, for not reporting stays at coin dealer Tom Noe’s Florida Keys vacation home at below market rates.

Chief Columbus City Prosecutor Stephen McIntosh said his office is racing a judicial clock and has only until Friday to file the charges because of a two-year statute of limitations. Mr. Hicks left the governor’s office July 31, 2003.

The prosecutor said other former and current staffers from the governor’s office are also being investigated for a similar allegations of accepting gifts without reporting them on financial disclosure forms, as required by state law.

Mr. McIntosh declined to provide more details, or if the gifts came from Mr. Noe.

Mr. Taft is also under investigation by the prosecutor’s office for potential violations for not reporting free rounds of golf at the Inverness Club, the exclusive, U.S. Open-level course in Toledo, and possibly at other courses, sources also told The Blade yesterday.

The charges to be filed against Mr. Hicks this week “involve our review of the use of the home in Florida, as well as [Mr. Hicks’] receipt of gifts from people,” Mr. McIntosh said.

The prosecutor said he would have to show that Mr. Hicks and others who might be charged in the future “knowingly” did not report the gifts.

The Blade first reported on May 12 that Mr. Hicks paid $300 to $500 for five nights in the Noes’ 3,600-square-foot waterfront home in 2001 and stayed there again for a few days a year later.

Each time, he was serving as Mr. Taft’s chief of staff.

“I am not talking to any press,” Mr. Hicks said yesterday when contacted by The Blade.

Mark Rickel, spokesman for the governor, said the governor’s office didn’t know about the coming charges and had no comment.

The Noes were interviewed on Friday by members of the law-enforcement task force investigating Mr. Noe.

The couple cooperated with authorities, Mr. McIntosh said.

Mr. Noe, a political contributor to the GOP who is under investigation by the FBI and a federal grand jury in Toledo investigating whether he illegally funneled money to the Bush-Cheney re-election campaign, is embroiled in a far-reaching rare coin scandal in Columbus. The Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation, the state’s insurance fund for injured workers, gave Mr. Noe $50 million to invest in rare coins, giving him $25 million in 1998 and another $25 million in 2001.

Mr. Noe’s lawyers have said that from $10 million to $13 million is missing from the funds.

Mr. Hicks, who served as the governor’s chief of staff from 1999 until 2003, started his own lobbying firm after leaving the governor’s office two years ago.

The improper receipt of gifts can bring a misdemeanor charge that can result in a $1,000 fine and a possible six months in jail. Failing to disclose the gifts carries a $250 fine and a possible 30 days in jail.
Misdemeanor ethics violations are handled by the city prosecutor’s office and not the Franklin County prosecutor’s office, Mr. McIntosh said.

Ron O’Brien, the county prosecutor, wouldn’t discuss details of the Hicks’ investigation.

“Everyone investigating, and the attorneys, are cognizant that there’s a statute of limitations,” he said.

State Sen. Marc Dann, a suburban Youngstown Democrat and the leading critic of the bureau’s rare coin investment, said he was worried the deadline would pass without charges being filed.

“I’m thrilled. … It seems clear a crime was committed and it needs to be prosecuted,” he said. “If for some reason Brian Hicks isn’t guilty, I’m anxious to hear.”

Staff writers Steve Eder and Mike Wilkinson contributed to this report.

Contact Christopher D. Kirkpatrick at:
ckirkpatrick@theblade.com
or 419-724-6077.

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