An arraignment date has been set for a former Delaware city municipal court judge who was indicted by a grand jury last month on two counts of theft and two counts of tampering with evidence.
Michael C. Hoague is scheduled to appear in Common Pleas Court at 9:45 a.m. on Monday, April 3.
According to the indictment, Hoague allegedly facilitated a fraud by falsifying government records occurring on or about June 14, 2013; with the second count occurring around July 2, 2013.
Both counts of fraud are third-degree felonies.
According to the indictment, Hoague, 62, allegedly took the property of another totaling $1,000 or more on or about July 2, 2013. The second count of theft he is charged with also totals approximately $1,000 or more which, occurred around July 22, 2013.
Both counts of theft are fifth-degree felonies.
Hoague has not commented on the charges.
Brad Tammaro, senior assistant attorney general from the Special Prosecutions Section of the Ohio Attorney General’s office, has been appointed as special prosecutor in the case.
Hoague was disciplined by the Ohio Supreme Court’s Office of Disciplinary Counsel in 2003 as a judge for “conviction of coercion, misconduct as a judge, acting in the manner that does not promote public confidence in the integrity and impartiality of the judiciary and misusing authority of judicial office to achieve the personal goal of reprimanding persons believed guilty of reckless driving.”
According to the disciplinary record, Hoague observed a vehicle driving recklessly on US Route 23. He wrote the owner of the vehicle a letter stating, “This is a serious matter deserving your immediate attention.”
Hoague ordered the two to appear in his courtroom where he conducted the matter in what the disciplinary record called “an arrogant inquisition.”
Hoague was a municipal court judge in Delaware from Jan. 1996-Dec. 2001. He did not seek re-election when his term of office expired.
According to a Delaware Police report, on Jan. 28, 2016, a felony theft complaint was reported on Carriage Drive. The report lists Hoague, a female with a Delaware address and two males with Ashley addresses.
