Press Release • Ohio Auditor of State

COLUMBUS – A former Scioto County commissioner was sentenced to 30 months in prison Wednesday after he admitted involvement in a kickback scheme involving the Southern Ohio Port Authority and a Portsmouth-area business park, Auditor of State Keith Faber announced.

Bryan Davis also was ordered to pay about $68,000 in restitution after pleading guilty to felony counts of theft in office, receiving stolen property and filing an incomplete/false tax return.

“Ultimately, you can never repay the public for that breach of trust,” Auditor Faber said. “But certainly this sentence is appropriate under the circumstances. If you lie, cheat and steal, the Auditor of State’s Office is going to find you, we’re going to use the tools at our disposal to prosecute you, and we’re going to see that you’re held accountable.”

Davis and wife and two others were indicted in 2025 following an investigation by the Auditor of State’s Special Investigations Unit (SIU) based on a complaint alleging a potential unlawful interest in a public contract between the Southern Ohio Port Authority and an out-of-state company for a building at the Southern Ohio Aeronautical Regional (SOAR) Business Park, adjacent to the Greater Portsmouth Regional Airport.

Criminal cases against Robert Horton, who headed the Southern Ohio Port Authority and the Scioto County Economic Development Department, and his wife are pending in Scioto County Common Pleas Court.

SIU determined that Horton received kickbacks for securing a public contract for construction at the SOAR Business Park, and Davis used his position as county commissioner to secure the contract and public funding involved, among other alleged crimes.

Davis pleaded guilty to the counts against him in July in Scioto County Common Pleas Court. With his conviction, he is barred from holding public offices or positions in the future.

As part of his sentence Wednesday, he will have to repay the county for any salary he received as county commissioner during his suspension, and he will forfeit any government contributions that were made to his pension.

His wife, Lorinda Davis, pleaded guilty to a single felony count of tampering with evidence. She was sentenced Wednesday to 24 months of community control.

Attorneys from SIU were appointed by the Scioto County Prosecutor to serve as special prosecutor in the case.

Since 2019, the Special Investigations Unit has assisted in 170 convictions resulting in more than $17.9 million in restitution (see Map of SIU Convictions since January 2019). The team receives hundreds of tips of suspected fraud annually. Tips can be submitted anonymously online or via SIU’s fraud hotline at 866-FRAUD-OH (866-372-8364).

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The Auditor of State’s Office, one of five independently elected statewide offices in Ohio, is responsible for auditing more than 5,900 state and local government agencies. Under the direction of Auditor Keith Faber, the office also provides financial services to local governments, investigates and prevents fraud in public agencies, and promotes transparency in government.