COLUMBUS — A Lima man has been indicted by an Allen County grand jury on a bribery charge stemming from his recent illegal-dumping case, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost announced Tuesday.
Brady Schroeder, who was convicted in December of a misdemeanor count of illegal disposal of construction and demolition debris, now faces one count of bribery, a third-degree felony that typically carries a prison sentence of nine to 36 months.
Schroeder’s case was prosecuted by the Ohio Attorney General’s Office in Lima Municipal Court. He was sentenced to 90 days in jail and 100 hours of community service, fined $750, and ordered to complete full remediation of the dump site subject to the approval of the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency.
The court suspended 60 days of the jail sentence pending the site remediation.
The recent indictment alleges that, after Schroeder’s conviction but before sentencing, the defendant was seen on a Ring doorbell camera offering a job to a state’s witness and to pay the witness’s outstanding driver’s license fees in exchange for favorable testimony.
The offer was reiterated later via text message, the indictment says.
Following the incident, the witness contacted the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation and the Ohio EPA.
Indictments are criminal allegations. Defendants are presumed innocent unless proved guilty in a court of law.