State Rep. Peter Beck of Mason, indicted Friday on 16 felony charges, will not be resigning from his seat in the Ohio House, his lawyer said Monday.
"He has no intention of doing that,'' Konrad Kircher, the Mason lawyer who is defending the Republican lawmaker told WVXU. "These are just charges. He plans to fight them, clear his name, and put this behind him."
Ever since a Hamilton County grand jury issued its 16-count indictment against the 60-year-old state legislator, there have been calls for him to resign - most notably from the Speaker of the Ohio House, William Batchelder, and the chairman of the Ohio Republican Party, Matt Borges.
Kircher told WVXU Monday it is not going to happen.
"People are calling for him to resign without having heard any of our testimony or seeing any of our evidence,'' Kircher said. "Pete will defend himself vigorously."
Beck was indicted for his alleged role in a securities scheme that prosecutors say cost investors at least $200,000. Friday, Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine, whose office investigated the case, and Hamilton County prosecutor Joseph T. Deters said the investigation of Beck and a business associate, John W. Fussner, who was indicted on seven felony counts, is on-going and could result in more charges.
All the charges involved Beck and Fussner's alleged actions involving an Ohio software company called Christopher Technologies, or CTech. Investors in CTech claim they were bilked out of hundreds of thousands of dollars.
While Beck, a former Mason mayor who has served in the Ohio House since 2009, won't resign, Batchelder, who heads the majority Republican caucus in the House, could remove him from his post as chairman of the Ways and Means Committee.
If convicted on all 16 counts, Beck could be sentenced to 102 years in prison.
Beck is expected to be arraigned Friday morning before a magistrate in Hamilton County Common Pleas Court.
Beck's 54th Ohio House District includes much of Warren County and a small part of Butler County.
