<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/69cb18575a7da.image.png\")
<\/p>\n
A Youngstown businessman and former candidate for Ohio State Representative has been accused of theft, money laundering, telecommunications fraud and securing writing by deception in Summit County.<\/p>\n
A Summit County grand jury indicted Brandon Kovach on five felony charges, with one count of aggravated theft equaling $410,000, a third-degree felony in Ohio.<\/p>\n
The felony charges stem from activities alleged to have occurred August 22, 2019, through December 3, 2021.<\/p>\n
The remaining charges include:<\/p>\n
Grand Theft equaling $50,000 – a fourth-degree felony<\/p>\n
Telecommunications fraud – a second-degree felony<\/p>\n
Securing writing by deception – a third-degree felony<\/p>\n
Money laundering – a third-degree felony<\/p>\n
In Feburary 2026, Kovach announced his campaign to represent Ohio\u2019s 58th District.<\/p>\n
At that time, the candidate said he was running as an Independent, citing fundamental disagreements with both political parties and describing himself as “fiscally conservative, but socially liberal.”<\/p>\n
He elaborated by describing his plan as “Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump combined.”<\/p>\n
In response to asking about plans for continuing his campaign following the indictment, Kovach told 21 News, \u201cI had previously resigned from the campaign for the 58th. That\u2019s old news there.\u201d<\/p>\n
In 2021, Kovach and Mill Creek MetroParks announced a $1 million donation by Kovach to the MetroParks Foundation\u2019s Benefactor Trust. Kovach was set to be named a benefactor of the Lily Pond Endowment fund.<\/p>\n
MetroParks Community Engagement Director Jaime Yohman said that, after years since the donation announcement, the foundation did not see any of the money promised.<\/p>\n
“Mr. Kovach offered a pledge of $1 million as the naming benefactor of the Lily Pond Endowment fund. His pledge was never finalized; the donation did not transpire. To date, the Mill Creek MetroParks Foundation has left the door open for the pledge to be fulfilled,\u201d Yohman told 21 News.<\/p>\n
He previously served as President of Cornerstone Capital, an insurance and investment services firm. At the firm, he also oversaw the charity and non-profit division.<\/p>\n
Kovach has also owned 40 businesses, primarily in Ohio.<\/p>\n
21 News has reached out to Kovach and his legal counsel and has not yet received a comment regarding the indictment or the donation to the Mill Creek MetroParks Foundation.<\/p>\n
RELATED COVERAGE:<\/p>\n
Youngstown businessman announces candidacy for Ohio House<\/a><\/p>\n Download the WFMJ app for your\u00a0Apple\u00a0<\/a>or\u00a0Android<\/a> smartphone or tablet to get our push alerts as news happens.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Youngstown businessman and former candidate for Ohio State Representative has been accused of theft, money laundering, telecommunications…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":152882,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[69482,2896,69485,54047,69483,28,30,29,41172,69484,209],"class_list":{"0":"post-152881","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-pennsylvania","8":"tag-brandon-kovach","9":"tag-indictment","10":"tag-mill-creek-metroparks-foundation","11":"tag-money-laundering","12":"tag-ohio-state-representative","13":"tag-pennsylvania","14":"tag-pennsylvania-headlines","15":"tag-pennsylvania-news","16":"tag-summit-county","17":"tag-telecommunications-fraud","18":"tag-theft"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152881","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=152881"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152881\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/152882"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=152881"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=152881"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=152881"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}