The former head of the Perrysburg Heights Community Association is facing several felony charges as he stands accused of mismanaging nearly $240,000.
Jason Craig is charged with one count of engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity, one count of aggravated theft, and four counts of money laundering. The Wood County Prosecutor’s office issued an indictment Sept. 20, and Mr. Craig was arrested Sept. 27 by the U.S. Marshals Service.
The indictment details multiple offenses alleged to have occurred between 2012 and 2015. A message left Wednesday with a public defender assigned to Mr. Craig was not returned.
Mr. Craig was arraigned Monday in Wood County Common Pleas Court, where bond was set at $25,000. He posted bond Tuesday, according to the prosecutor’s office.
In an interview and a press release, Wood County Prosecutor Paul Dobson said investigations into Mr. Craig began in the summer of 2014 after a failed hip-hop concert and lease violations left the center facing eviction from Perrysburg Township.
Headline acts at the center's hip-hop festival, including members of Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, Coolio, and Naughty By Nature, failed to show up. In some cases, promoters and agents said their performers were never contracted to appear. Organizers refused to offer refunds for the $20 tickets sold for the show.
Mr. Craig blamed a booking agent for the failure of advertised acts to appear.
At the time, former president and founder of the board Anita Serda called for an investigation into Mr. Craig's actions.
Complaints also were sent to the Ohio Attorney General’s office in 2013 that Mr. Craig and others were receiving personal gain from the nonprofit.
The indictment lists a number of financial transactions Mr. Craig is alleged to have committed. For instance, the indictment says that on Dec. 19, 2012, he withdrew $25,000 from the association’s Key Bank account, and on the same day deposited $25,000 into a personal account at Huntington Bank.
The Ohio Attorney General’s Office charitable law section conducted an initial investigation soon after the failed concert and sent the results to his office, Mr. Dobson said. An investigator there then conducted a lengthy review of the association’s finances before the information was submitted to a grand jury.
“The financial investigations can take a long time,” he said.
In his statement about the case, Mr. Dobson said the indictments show he would “hold accountable those who abuse the trust of the public when they are placed in positions of authority, especially over funds entrusted to them by those who willingly donate to not-for-profit organizations.”
Paul Belazis, Perrysburg Heights Communication Association board president, said he was surprised by the indictment and called it unfortunate. He said his understanding is that Mr. Craig may be alleged to have run a side business through an account in the association’s name. The 2013 complaints sent to the state include an accusation Mr. Craig and others gained a profit from weddings and other events rented at the center.
“The association has never really had that kind of money sitting around,” Mr. Belazis said in regard to the large amounts Mr. Craig is alleged to have stolen. “I don't know if that would be considered association money, but I would be very surprised that the association had any substantial amount of cash at that point of time.”
While Mr. Belazis said he did not know how the association handled its finances before he joined the board in recent years, he said the board uses “careful procedures” when it comes to check signings and other financial transactions.
He added he hopes the indictment doesn’t tarnish the reputation of the association, listing off its many community programs such as early childhood education, reading interventions, summer enrichment, recreation, and holiday events.
“All I can tell you is what we are doing now and what we planned to continue doing in the future,” Mr. Belazis said.
First Published October 17, 2018, 5:34 p.m.