Twice Conned by Ex-Client, Ohio Judge is On Hot Seat
An Ohio judge is facing potential discipline after being twice conned by a former client in connection with business ventures, according to court records.
Back when he was still in practice, Judge Jeffrey Hoskins of the Highland County Common Pleas Court helped David Bliss win a reduced sentence in a credit-card fraud case, recounts the Columbus Dispatch.
But then, when Bliss was released, Hoskins gave his wife a $25,000 business loan, which Bliss “repaid” with a rubber check, court records show.
After assuming the bench in 2003, Hoskins purchased a Hillsboro building on his own which was leased to the county’s adult parole office. This posed an ethical issue because Hoskins concealed his identity as the building’s owner to avoid a conflict with his role as a judge, contends the Ohio Supreme Court’s disciplinary counsel.
Bliss re-entered the picture in 2005, when Hoskins allegedly tried to persuade him to purchase the building at an inflated price, apparently in an effort to regain his still-unrepaid $25,000 loan, the newspaper reports. But Bliss came to a meeting with the judge wearing a wire.
At a hearing last week, attorney George Jonson, who is representing the 60-year-old judge, said Hoskins was trying to stay on the right side of the law when dealing with Bliss, the newspaper reports. The judge’s business ventures, while questionable, don’t warrant his removal from the bench, Jonson said at the hearing.
