Judge Steve Yarbrough:  Ohio’s all-time “Have Gavel will Travel” Retired Judge Winner

Unfortunately, the state of Ohio provided Stephen Alfred Yarbrough with a law license in 1974 after he graduated from the University of Toledo School of Law.

FYI: There are fourteen (14) articles on this site about Steve’s conduct in billing two or more counties for 8 hours work on the same day, billing two counties for the same meals on the same day, and repeatedly billing for hours he never worked. (See Judicial Misfits under Ohio to view said articles)

Moreover, because of my prior conduct in exposing Yarbrough’s serial thefts, he was required to repay the Ohio Supreme Court (Ohio taxpayers) nearly $10,000.00.

From 08/10/1993 thru 12/16/2010, Stevie received an amazing eight-hundred-forty-three (843) individual assignments. From 01/01/201 thru 06/28/2011, he received an additional three hundred (300) assignments, bring his total as of 08/30/2011 to 1,143 assignments.

What kind of defunct and unaccountable system would allow one judge to travel hundreds of thousands of miles to far away courts when 50 or more judges were available that resided less than 50 miles from the assigned court? Table A below sets forth the facts leading to Yarbrough’s receipt of over $200,000.00 in travel and per diem. The true amount is likely 3 to 4 times higher, meaning the amount could easily $500,000.00.

Table A

What is truly astounding is the undeniable fact that Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor was an Associate Ohio Supreme Court Justice when there were numerous news articles about Judge Yarbrough’s misdeeds and those of other retired judges that appeared in the Columbus Dispatch and her hometown paper the Cleveland Plain Dealer. Despite this intimate knowledge of Yarbrough’s serial thefts of taxpayer funds, O’Connor had the chutzpah to assign him to two (2) general 3-month assignments on the day after he retired which was February 8, 2017.

I’m confident as my current investigation of Yarbrough will again lead to facts establishing that he has again billed for hours he never worked and/or for travel expenses he never incurred. Unfortunately, this investigation will also likely expose the same conduct involving numerous visiting retired judges.

Yarbrough continues to dispense his so-called idea of jurisprudence compliments of Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor’s 3-month general assignments as follows.

• Bowling Green Municipal Court: assignment good to 09/30/2021
• Bryan Municipal Court: assignment good to 09/30/2021
• Defiance Municipal Court: assignment good to 09/30/2021
• Lucas County Gen Division: assignment good to 09/30/2021

These general assignments allow for the administrative judge at said courts to assign Yarbrough to any and all cases they wish to do. Put simply, the folks living in these venues could be made to suffer the indignity of having Yarbrough dispense with justice rather than dispense justice for the next several years.

As we speak (ca. September 2021), Yarbrough continues to enjoy he confidence of Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor who through her actions has let it be known she doesn’t much care about Yarbrough’s past thefts of taxpayer funds or those resulting from her personal assignments of him.