Former Scioto County Commissioner Bryan Davis Begins 30-Month Prison Sentence in Port Authority Kickback Case

- Advertisement -

PORTSMOUTH, Ohio. Former Scioto County Commissioner Bryan Davis is now in state prison, serving the 30-month sentence handed down in September in the Southern Ohio Port Authority kickback case.

State prison records show Davis, inmate number A865642, was admitted on October 5, 2026, and is held at the Correctional Reception Center in Orient, where new inmates are processed before assignment to a permanent prison. The 30 months runs on the theft in office count, with his sentence on the tax return count running at the same time. He received credit for 18 days spent in jail. His expected release date is March 16, 2029. Judge D. Dean Evans sentenced him in Scioto County Common Pleas Court, case number 25CR497.

Davis pleaded guilty in July in Scioto County Common Pleas Court to felony counts of theft in office, receiving stolen property, and filing an incomplete or false tax return. He was sentenced on September 16, 2026.

The case grew out of an investigation by the Ohio Auditor of State’s Special Investigations Unit into a public contract between the Southern Ohio Port Authority and an out-of-state company for a building at the Southern Ohio Aeronautical Regional (SOAR) Business Park, next to the Greater Portsmouth Regional Airport. Investigators said Robert Horton, who led the port authority and the county economic development department, received kickbacks for securing the contract, and that Davis used his seat on the board of commissioners to help secure the contract and the public funding behind it.

Davis was indicted in 2025 along with his wife, Lorinda Davis, Horton, and Horton’s wife. Davis was suspended as commissioner while the case was pending. With his conviction, he is removed from office and barred from holding public office or public positions in the future.

Along with the prison term, Davis was ordered to pay about $68,000 in restitution. He must also repay Scioto County the salary he received as commissioner during his suspension, and he forfeits the government contributions made to his pension.

His wife, Lorinda Davis, pleaded guilty to a single felony count of tampering with evidence and was sentenced to 24 months of community control. The cases against Robert Horton and his wife are still pending in Scioto County Common Pleas Court.

Attorneys from the Special Investigations Unit served as special prosecutors in the case, by appointment of the Scioto County prosecutor.

We are reaching out for more information and will update this story as details become available.

Send a tip or correction to info@heritageheadlines.com.

Get the morning stories.

- Advertisement -