SCIOTO COUNTY, Ohio — A man serving a state prison sentence for drug trafficking and other felony convictions has been returned to the Scioto County Jail as he seeks judicial release, despite currently having an expected release or parole eligibility date in 2029.
According to Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction records, Andrew M. Bendolph is incarcerated following convictions in Scioto County Common Pleas Court case 22CR000714.
Records list convictions for second-degree felony drug trafficking, third-degree felony tampering with evidence, and fifth-degree felony possession of criminal tools. Bendolph was admitted into state custody on January 10, 2024.
ODRC currently lists Bendolph’s expected release/parole eligibility date as June 25, 2029.
Despite that date, court records show Bendolph’s attorney filed a motion for judicial release on June 24, 2026, asking the court to consider releasing him before completion of his currently anticipated prison term.
Judge Mark E. Kuhn subsequently ordered Bendolph returned from the Correctional Reception Center to Scioto County for a judicial release hearing. Bendolph was booked into the Scioto County Jail on August 11.
While the jail’s online inmate roster lists trafficking in drugs as his charge, the court docket indicates his return to the county is connected to the judicial release proceedings in his existing criminal case, rather than showing a new drug trafficking charge.
A judicial release hearing was originally scheduled for August 12 at 2 p.m. Court records now show another judicial release hearing scheduled for August 13 at 10 a.m. before Judge Kuhn.
The hearing will determine whether Bendolph will be granted judicial release and permitted to leave prison early or continue serving his sentence, which currently carries an expected release or parole eligibility date of June 25, 2029.
