COLUMBUS, OH—Ohio State Representative Dale Mallory, 49, of Cincinnati, Ohio, pleaded guilty today in the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas to one count of filing a false financial disclosure statement and one count of acceptance of prohibited gratuities from a legislative agent.

Kevin R. Cornelius, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Cincinnati Division, Ron O’Brien, Franklin County Prosecuting Attorney, and Tony Bledsoe, Ohio Legislative Inspector General, announced the pleas entered today before Franklin County Judge Patrick Sheeran.

According to court documents, the violations involve filing a false financial disclosure statement in 2010 with the Joint Legislative Ethics Committee (JLEC) of the Ohio General Assembly. Mallory failed to list a registered legislative agent as a source of a ticket to a professional football game and meals and beverages he received in 2009. Mallory also knowingly accepted gifts of professional sporting tickets in excess of $75 from a registered legislative agent in 2013.

This legal action resulted from an investigation by the FBI’s Public Corruption Task Force into payday lending legislative proposals. The investigation previously led to the separate convictions of former state representatives Carlton Weddington and Clayton Luckie, registered lobbyist George Glover and former registered lobbyist John Rabenold.

This investigation was conducted by agents from the FBI and the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI) who are part of the FBI Cincinnati Division’s Public Corruption Task Force in Columbus. The case was prosecuted by Franklin County Prosecuting Attorney Ron O’Brien and Assistant Franklin County Prosecutor Jeff Blake.