NBC News: Ohio man who was jailed following accusations of sexual misconduct with a minor resigns from [Husted] Senate campaign

COLUMBUS, OHIO — Bombshell reporting from NBC News has revealed that Andrew Havas, Jon Husted’s campaign chair in Ohio’s largest county, served jail time after committing sexual misconduct with a minor. Jon Husted enlisted Havas as a chair despite his 2009 guilty plea to assaulting a minor being public record.

The revelation is the latest in a disturbing pattern around Jon Husted’s top endorsers. Husted is still proudly touting the endorsement of State Representative Rodney Creech, who has been accused of sexual misconduct involving a minor relative, while his current Sandusky County campaign chair also came under fire for talking to young girls about their sex lives.

Ohio Democratic Party Senior Communications Advisor Tony Wen released the following statement:

“Andrew Havas’ record of sexual misconduct with a minor was public, but Jon Husted had no problem keeping him as a campaign chair until people started asking questions. Even now, Jon Husted continues to proudly tout two other endorsements from allies who have faced disturbing sexual allegations involving minors. Ohioans deserve to know why Husted keeps embracing predators.”

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NBC News: Ohio man who was jailed following accusations of sexual misconduct with a minor resigns from GOP Senate campaign

• A man who had once served jail time following accusations of sexual misconduct with a minor resigned this week from his volunteer position as a surrogate for Ohio GOP Sen. Jon Husted’s re-election campaign.

• Andrew Havas was named a county campaign chair in Franklin County by Husted’s campaign in December, and resigned after NBC News reached out for comment on this story. Havas was one of 112 volunteers appointed to represent the campaign in Ohio’s 88 counties.

• In 2009, Havas pleaded guilty in a case related to an incident involving a 15-year-old in Ohio’s Mahoning County. Havas, who was 22 when the crime occurred, according to court records, was sentenced to 90 days in jail, ordered to pay a fine and ordered to have no contact with the minor at the center of the case.

• The criminal complaint from 2008 accused Havas of “being reckless” with regard to the victim’s age. He was accused of knowing that the minor was older than 13 but younger than 16. Havas was originally charged with sexual misconduct with a minor, according to the criminal complaint. His charges were later reduced to one misdemeanor assault charge, according to a copy of the case file.

• He served his sentence in the Mahoning County jail from May to August 2009, according to records provided by the county sheriff’s office.

• Havas, who also serves as vice chair of the Franklin County GOP executive committee, has at least twice this year appeared at events as a representative of the Husted campaign. One event, on June 12, listed Havas alongside three others as the host of a luncheon supporting Husted in Columbus. Another event, a joint meeting of the Gahanna Republican Club and the New Albany area 1776ers on June 25, listed Havas as a speaker and a “representative for Jon Husted.”

• In December, Havas introduced Husted at a Christmas party, addressing a crowd alongside the senator and shaking his hand before passing him a microphone.

• The previously unreported sexual misconduct case against a member of Husted’s campaign comes as Democrats have sought to highlight donations the candidate received in the past from Les Wexner, an Ohio businessman who had ties to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

• In several TV ads this year, the Brown campaign has criticized Husted for accepting donations from Wexner. The FBI named Wexner, the billionaire former CEO of Victoria’s Secret, as an Epstein co-conspirator in a 2019 file that the Justice Department released this year in response to the law passed by Congress.

• In one of Brown’s ads targeting Husted over the Wexner donations, a narrator tells viewers, “Of all 535 members of Congress, who’s taken the most money from associates of Jeffrey Epstein? Jon Husted, that’s who.”

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