Background
CHAFFETZ, PETER was born on May 4, 1952 in Chicago, Illinois, United States.
politician member of the Ohio House of Representatives
CHAFFETZ, PETER was born on May 4, 1952 in Chicago, Illinois, United States.
Harvard University (Bachelor of Arts, 1974). University of Chicago (Juris Doctor, 1978).
A U.S. Marine Corps veteran and graduate of the University of South Florida, Beck was the audit manager for the firm Donohoo, Cupp & Beck until he left in 2012. Prior to his service in the House, Beck served as Mason's mayor from 2003–2005 and served on Mason City Council from 1999-2003. When Representative Shannon Jones vacated her seat to take Bob Schuler's seat in the Ohio Senate, Beck announced his plans to seek an appointment to the vacant house seat.
He was up against Lebanon City Councilman Jeffrey Monroe and law clerk Michael Eshleman. Ultimately, he was chosen for the appointment, and was seated on October 6, 2009. He was sworn into his first full term on January 3, 2011, and serves on the committees of Economic and Small Business Development.
Finance and Appropriations and its Transportation Subcommittee. Public Utilities; and Ways and Means (as Chairman). In May 2014, Beck lost his reelection bid during the state primaries to local businessman Paul Zeltwanger.
On July 19, 2013, Beck was indicted on 16 counts of securities fraud and theft for his alleged role in the now-defunct company Christopher Technologies, a company that sold early warning software. He was allegedly the Chief Financial Officer. The charges claimed Beck cheated investors out of about $200,000 related to his role in the former tech company.
Fussner was president of the former company. Beck's attorney had requested an extension after the Ohio Attorney General and the Hamilton County Prosecutor's Office, who jointly prosecuted the case, entered 60,000 pages worth of discovery documents into the record. Ohio Speaker of the House William Batchelder and the Ohio Republican Party Chair Matt Borges asked Beck to resign his seat in the Statehouse.
He refused. Beck resigned on November 30, 2014, one month prior to the expiration of his term. Beck was found guilty on June 2, 2015, on 13 criminal counts (three theft counts, three securities-related counts and seven perjury counts) by Hamilton County Common Pleas Court Judge John Andrew West. He was sentenced on August 20, 2015, to four years in prison.
An appeal is to be filed. A civil suit, filed in January 2013, was delayed until after the criminal trial. Fussner was not named in the civil case.
The civil suit, in which Beck is being defended by Warren County attorney Konrad Kircher, claims Beck and others bilked investors in Christopher Technologies out of $1.2 millions.
He also is a member of the Correctional Institution Inspection Committee. And the Warren County Transportation Improvement District Board of Trustees.