The Office of Disciplinary Counsel of the Supreme Court of Ohio is investigating alleged misconduct by Judge John “Tim” Rudduck. The Clinton County Common Pleas Court judge is accused of endorsing and promoting his son’s judicial campaign in 2023 to fill the seat in the Clinton County Municipal Court vacated after the death of Judge Michael Daugherty in 2022.

Rudduck has served as a judge in Clinton County for almost 40 years and is Clinton County’s only Common Pleas Court judge. If disciplinary action is taken against him, he could lose his law license and be removed from the bench.

Documents filed with the Board of Professional Conduct of the Supreme Court of Ohio accuse Rudduck of violating three rules of the Ohio Code of Judicial Conduct for posts he shared on his Facebook page, which includes 4.1(A)(3) that “a judge shall not publicly endorse or oppose a candidate for another public office.” The posts in question were shared on Rudduck’s profile where he identified himself by his official title as a judge.

In 2023, former City of Wilmington Law Director Brett Rudduck ran in the Republican primary for the Clinton County Municipal Court seat against Chief Prosecutor David Henry and attorney Judy Gano. Three weeks before the primary election on May 2, Governor Mike DeWine appointed Henry to the seat. Henry won the primary and was later elected to a six-year term in November 2023.

Many of the posts involved were campaign photos Brett Rudduck posted on Facebook from March 2023 leading up to the primary. He tagged his father in these posts, which caused them to appear on his father’s Facebook profile. Rudduck did not untag himself in any of the posts. According to the Respondent’s Answer filed with the Board of Professional Conduct of the Supreme Court of Ohio, Rudduck “denies he expressly consented to Brett ‘tagging’ him, but admits he was aware Brett’s posts appeared on his Facebook page.”

Among the posts Rudduck shared was one from March 21, 2023, which featured the younger Rudduck, his wife and their three children wearing “Elect Brett Rudduck Municipal Court Judge” T-shirts with the caption, “As I am famously known for, I turbo-talked my way through my Five-Minute Speech at the Republican-Hosted event last night. Mangled-Messaging aside… it’s still a start.”

Rudduck shared the post to his profile and commented, “I heard one candidate in an opening statement said the ‘sole qualification’ the two other candidates had to be Judge was their last name. Should I consider that a complement [sic] or an insult?”

His comment was in response to Henry criticizing Brett Rudduck and Gano at the GOP Candidate Forum at Wilmington High School on March 20, 2023. Henry stated that, unlike his opponents, he wasn’t connected to the judiciary through family, implying that his opponents’ qualifications were based solely on their last names.

Rudduck is also accused of violating rule 1.3 of the Ohio Code of Judicial Conduct by abusing his judicial prestige “to advance the personal or economic interests of the judge or others, or allow others to do so.”

In the week leading up to the primary, Facebook restricted Brett Rudduck’s account for 24 hours on April 26, 2023, for violating its Community Standards. These guidelines outline what content and behavior are permitted and prohibited on Facebook and other Meta platforms. If a user is found in violation of Facebook’s Community Standards, they could receive a warning; face temporary restrictions on their account, such as being unable to post or comment; a temporary suspension, which could last for a few hours to a few days; or a permanent ban.

Rudduck posted a screenshot of the message on his Facebook profile and suggested that the restriction was politically motivated by writing, “No – this is not the message I woke up to today – but rather my son. I understand if enough folks complain about account activity, Facebook places restrictions on free speech. Odd this would occur just before election day [sic] and without just cause.”

On that same day, Rudduck wrote a detailed post addressing allegations of child abuse and drug use made against his son during his campaign by Citizen’s Arrest of Clinton County, Ohio – a Facebook group spearheaded by Darrell Petrey and Tony Thomas of Wilmington.

According to Rudduck’s post, Thomas and Petrey obtained photos of Brett Rudduck playing with his children in their backyard. They shared the images in the group, claiming that Brett was throwing hammers at the children. Thomas contacted the Wilmington Police Department to report child abuse. No investigation was conducted because Thomas refused to provide any information to support his allegations, according to the complaint.

Rudduck then explained that on Sept. 22, 2022, Brett called Petrey – a former high school classmate – to discuss deleting the photos of his children from the Facebook group and to address the death threats made against him in comments on a post. The two talked for 15 minutes, with Brett knowing Petrey was recording the call.

During the conversation, Brett Rudduck admitted that he hadn’t “used a single drug” for almost two years. After being diagnosed with ADHD in 2003 and prescribed Adderall for treatment, Brett sought help in 2021 to discontinue using the medication. “Neither our family nor Brett ever attempted or desired to keep his battle with ADHD and his use of Adderall a secret,” Rudduck wrote in the almost 2,000-word Facebook post.

Rudduck stated that Henry received an audio file of Brett and Petrey’s phone conversation through a private message sent to Henry’s judicial campaign’s Facebook page. That message was later shared on social media with Henry indicating “he would be sending the taped conversation to both law enforcement authorities and the Ohio Supreme Court ‘the next day.’” According to Rudduck, Henry had “prior personal knowledge of Brett’s medical treatment for ADHD.”

Rudduck claims that his son “attempted to contact Mr. Henry to address Mr. Henry’s now public, private message,” but received no response.

“It makes one question the purpose of Mr. Henry encouraging the recipient of the private message to ‘share your findings with everyone you speak with so the public is aware,’” wrote Rudduck.

Additional allegations against the Rudduck family include how Judge Rudduck has avoided prosecution for DUI.

Addressing Thomas’ involvement in his judicial misconduct case, Rudduck noted in his Facebook post, “Concerning Mr. Thomas, while I can’t speak to his motivation for attacking our family, I granted what is called a Summary Judgment in foreclosure, resulting in the eviction of Mr. Thomas from his home, a decision he has repeatedly claimed was unjust and criminal.”

Thomas lost his home in foreclosure in August 2015, with Rudduck as the presiding judge.

The News Journal reached out to Rudduck for a statement regarding the claims of judicial misconduct. Rudduck said in an email, “In our response to the allegations of wrongdoing which were first initiated by Judge David Henry and Tony Thomas, my attorneys deny any wrongdoing by me in defending my family and the You-Turn Recovery Drug Court docket.”

The News Journal also contacted Brett Rudduck for comment, but he has yet to respond.

A formal hearing is scheduled for 10 a.m. Nov. 8 at the Moyer Judicial Center, Hearing Room 106, 65 S. Front St., Columbus. The hearing is open to the public.