Former Cincinnati Councilman Jeff Pastor to plead guilty in public corruption case

CINCINNATI (WXIX) - Former City Councilman Jeff Pastor has agreed to a plea deal in the federal corruption case against him, according to a spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Justice.

Pastor, a Republican, faces charges of bribery, extortion, wire fraud, money laundering and more related to his role on the council, from which he voluntarily resigned in November 2020 following his arrest.

He will plead guilty to the honest services wire fraud charge per a plea agreement struck with federal prosecutors Tuesday, according to the DOJ spokesperson.

U.S. District Court Judge Matthew McFarland must still accept the guilty plea at a hearing, whose date remains unknown.

Pastor remains free on his own recognizance.

Cincinnati City Councilman Jeff Pastor arrested on federal bribery charges, feds say

Pastor is accused of soliciting and receiving $55,000 in bribes between August 2018 and February 2019 in exchange for favorable action on development projects the council was considering.

Federal authorities have said he was only six months into his first term as a council member before he sought his first bribe.

Authorities claim Tyran Marshall, Pastor’s alleged business partner, arranged for some payments and set up a nonprofit that Pastor used to “sanitize” money from the alleged bribes.

Marshall is charged with conspiring to commit wire fraud, bribery, attempted extortion and money laundering. He has pleaded not guilty.

Ben Dusing, whom Pastor initially retained as his lawyer, promised in January 2022 that Pastor’s case would go to trial.

Dusing disqualified himself from the case in March 2022 after the supreme courts of both Ohio and Kentucky acted to temporarily suspend his law licence.

Tamaya Dennard, a former Cincinnati City Council member accused in a separate public corruption case, pleaded guilty to honest services wire fraud in late 2020 and was sentenced to 18 months in jail.