Florida judge grants Tom and Bernadette Noe a divorce

7/24/2009

A Florida judge has ended the marriage of Tom and Bernadette Noe, the once formidable power couple that hobnobbed with President George W. Bush and Gov. Bob Taft before scandal drove them from Toledo and the state.

Court records show Judge Luis Garcia ended their marriage Thursday in Monroe County on Key West, where Bernadette Noe is a practicing lawyer and has resided since Tom Noe's conviction for illegally funneling $45,000 to the Bush-Cheney re-election campaign and stealing $13.7 million from a rare-coin fund he managed for the state of Ohio.

Tom Noe resides in southern Ohio at the Hocking Correctional Facility, where he is serving an 18-year state prison sentence. He previously served a 27-month federal sentence in Florida.

Both Noes are past chairmen of the Lucas County Republican Party.

Court records show that Tom Noe filed for the dissolution of marriage July 17.