BUTLER — The mayor of Butler is stepping down from office amid two pending criminal cases against him.
Wesley Dingus has submitted a letter of resignation, village fiscal officer Amanda Rimar confirmed to Richland Source via email.
Village council will meet Tuesday at 6 p.m. to vote on the resignation. If it is approved, current council president Rick Thran will assume the role of mayor, according to Rimar.
Richland Source was unable to reach council president Thran for comment prior to publication. Dingus declined to comment for this story.
Dingus was elected to Butler’s village council in 2007 and has served off-and-on until 2022, when he assumed the role of mayor after Joseph Stallard’s resignation. Dingus successfully ran to retain his seat the following year.
Prior to his time on council, Dingus spent two years as Butler’s zoning inspector.
Dingus facing charges of misdemeanor voyeurism, felony assault
Dingus is currently the defendant in two pending criminal cases, one in Mansfield Municipal Court and one in Richland County Common Pleas Court.
Dingus was charged with two counts of misdemeanor voyeurism in Mansfield Municipal Court last week, with a set bond of $10,000.
Magistrate John McCollister, whose bond allowed the defendant to post 10 percent, also ordered Dingus to have no contact with the alleged victim in the case and wear electronic monitoring.
Both of the charges are third-degree misdemeanors.
The alleged offenses involve the 48-year-old Dingus sniffing the previously worn underwear of a minor relative in his care. Both instances were recorded by a small video camera, according to a Richland County Sheriff’s Office report.
According to Ohio Revised Code 2907.08, “No person, for the purpose of sexually arousing or gratifying the person’s self, shall commit trespass or otherwise surreptitiously invade the privacy of another, to spy or eavesdrop upon another.”
The RCSO began its current investigation after being contacted by Richland County Children Services.
The incidents allegedly took place on Jan. 13, according to the report, while Dingus was out on bond awaiting trial for another criminal case in Richland County Common Pleas Court.
In 2025, Dingus was indicted on four counts by a Richland County grand jury, including aggravated assault (a fourth-degree felony), vehicular assault (a fourth-degree felony), falsification (a first-degree misdemeanor) and dereliction of duty (a second-degree misdemeanor).
The charges stem from a July 11, 2025, incident, during which Dingus allegedly struck a man twice with his car.
The man was wanted by the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction for a parole violation and was reportedly fleeing police during a traffic stop when Dingus was charged with hitting him with his vehicle.
Dingus was arrested on a warrant on Aug. 17 and pleaded not guilty to all charges the following day. He was released from the Richland County Jail on a $25,000 bond. That case remains pending in Common Pleas Court.