News Releases

On November 16, 2011, Ohio Supreme Court Justice Evelyn Stratton and Attorney General Mike DeWine announced that the Advisory Committee on Mental Illness and the Courts (ACMIC) will evolve into the Attorney General's Task Force on Criminal Justice and Mental Illness.

(COLUMBUS, Ohio) -- Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine announced today that the Office of Justice Programs of the U.S. Department of Justice has awarded the state's Crime Victim Compensation Fund, administered through the Office's Crime Victim Section, a grant of $4,528,000.

Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine today announced that an investigation initiated by his newly established Economic Crimes Division has led to the execution of search warrants in Tampa, Florida and Springfield, Ohio.

A home-improvement scam prosecuted as a criminal offense led to a guilty plea by James Burchett of Amelia, Ohio, who was sentenced today in Hamilton County Court to 18 months in prison.

(LONDON, Ohio)—On Monday, 29 seniors from the Phyllis A. Ernst Senior Center in Hilliard traveled to London, Ohio for a tour of the Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI). The seniors were given a first-hand look at the tools, technology, and expertise used by BCI to investigate and solve Ohio’s most difficult crimes and cold cases.

Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine today filed charges in court seeking the temporary shutdown of a Columbus petroleum product refinery for ongoing air pollution violations that have caused substantial odor nuisances. On behalf of Ohio EPA, DeWine filed Written Charges of Contempt against Heartland Petroleum in Franklin County Environmental Court for violating previous orders which prohibit the company from releasing uncontrolled emissions and causing a public odor nuisance.

Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine and Ohio EPA Director Scott Nally today announced an agreement has been reached with Heartland Petroleum to temporarily shutdown its Columbus petroleum product refinery until previously court ordered emissions control systems can be installed. A Journal Entry and Order was filed today in Franklin County Environmental Court by Judge Harland Hale ordering the shutdown.

Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine and Ohio EPA Director Scott J. Nally announced today that the State of Ohio has entered into a Consent Order and final judgment with Heartland Refinery Group LLC (4001 E. Fifth Ave., Columbus). The order was filed in Franklin County Environmental Court before Judge Harland Hale in lieu of a previously scheduled trial. The order resolves the oil re-refinery’s violations of Ohio’s air pollution control laws and rules, including releasing uncontrolled emissions and causing substantial public odor nuisances.

(COLUMBUS, Ohio) - Senior United States District Judge Roger Vinson today granted the motion adding Ohio and five more additional states as party plaintiffs in the lawsuit pending in the federal court for the Northern District of Florida challenging the constitutionality of the recently enacted healthcare law. The Judge's ruling states that he will not require the federal defendants to file new answers to the complaint, so the addition of the new parties will not delay the case in any way.

(COLUMBUS, Ohio) -- Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine announced today that he has been notified that the plaintiffs challenging the constitutionality of the recently enacted healthcare law in federal court in Florida today filed a motion for leave to amend the complaint to add Ohio as a party plaintiff in that case. DeWine gave authority for that challenge last Monday, on his first day in office.

The motion seeks to add Ohio to the states involved in State of Florida, et al., v. United States Department of Heath and Human Services, et. al. In addition to Ohio, the motion seeks to add Kansas, Wyoming, Wisconsin, Maine, and Iowa to the growing number of states challenging the law, potentially bringing the total number of states in the case to 26. In a separate challenge, by the Commonwealth of Virginia, a federal judge already held part of the act unconstitutional.