ATHENS, Ohio — In a 2014 photo, Athens County Prosecutor Keller Blackburn smiles at the camera, cheek-to-cheek with Harmony Wharton. It’s one of dozens of photos Harmony Wharton has of herself and Bryan Wharton socializing with Blackburn and his wife during the Whartons’ 12-year marriage.
“We had parties together constantly, and dinners at the country club, at our houses,” Harmony Wharton told the Independent. “(Bryan) golfed with Keller at least once a week, and went on several golf trips a year — just the guys.”
The Whartons also gave Blackburn personal gifts worth more than $75 every year from 2013 to 2016, as revealed by Blackburn’s personal financial disclosures filed with the Ohio Ethics Commission.
Fast-forward 10 years.
The Whartons are embroiled in a contentious divorce, including a custody dispute over their child. A special prosecutor is reviewing a possible misdemeanor domestic violence charge against Bryan Wharton, according to Athens Law Director Lisa Eliason. And Blackburn’s office has identified Harmony Wharton in drug trafficking indictments of a New Marshfield couple.
Harmony Wharton’s attorney stated in an affidavit that he believes that Blackburn is using the power of his office to improperly interfere in the Whartons’ divorce to tilt the outcome toward Bryan Wharton.
In the affidavit, Harmony Wharton’s criminal defense attorney Scott Petroff alleged that Blackburn tried to intimidate Harmony Wharton into entering drug rehabilitation and monitoring by Blackburn’s office by implicating her in the investigation of a local drug ring. Blackburn also asked that Harmony Wharton testify in that investigation.
In the Jan. 31 affidavit, filed within a motion in the Whartons’ divorce case, Petroff said he asked Blackburn “on multiple occasions” to share the evidence implicating Harmony Wharton, but Blackburn refused. As a result, Petroff advised his client to invoke her right to remain silent.
After Harmony Wharton did so, the prosecutor’s office identified her in Blackburn’s indictments of Tonia and Daniel Martin — without, according to Petroff, providing direct evidence to him or charging her. In part because Harmony Wharton’s name appeared in the indictments, Bryan Wharton asked the court to adjust custody arrangements.
Petroff told the Independent that he believes that Blackburn’s pursuit of a criminal investigation against Harmony Wharton — knowing that a case against her could help her husband win a more favorable outcome in the divorce — is unethical.
Blackburn said in an interview that his personal relationships do not compromise his prosecutorial decision-making and called Petroff’s allegations against him “offensive.”
An expert in legal ethics, however, said there might be merit to Petroff’s allegations.
“Everybody believes that they can be fair and sort of impartial,” said Heather Zirke, the director of the Miller Becker Center for Professional Responsibility and an assistant professor at the University of Akron School of Law. “He clearly knows this person personally, and shouldn’t have been involved.”
“I think that there are indicators here that there may be misconduct,” Zirke added.
Cases involving personal friendships are not a black-and-white issue, said Richard Dove, the director of the Ohio Board of Professional Conduct, which oversees attorney discipline.
Dove said the ethics of such cases may depend on “the nature of the friendship.”
Blackburn acknowledged his friendship with Bryan Wharton, a local realtor and major landlord, but told the Independent they haven’t been as close recently because of a “massive break” in relationship in early 2023.
“I had some issues with some of his decision-making,” Blackburn said.
“We know each other,” Blackburn added. “We see each other. We’re in some social circles together. We have times in which we are at the same golf course together. We have times where we’re in public at the same place, but we do not have a regular — I do not call him generally. He doesn’t call me. I don’t text him.”
Petroff’s allegations against Blackburn involve four separate court cases filed between October 2023 and January 2024:
- An alleged domestic violence case. Harmony Wharton called 911 following an incident in early October 2023, which resulted in a domestic violence complaint against Bryan Wharton. The case has bounced between various courts across southeast Ohio, eventually making its way to the City of Athens Law Department. In a July 19 email, the Athens law department said that “a prosecutor from outside of our office is currently reviewing the case.” As of Aug. 6, there were no updates regarding any potential charges, according to city Law Director Lisa Eliason.
- The divorce. Bryan Wharton initiated divorce proceedings against Harmony Wharton in late October 2023. The divorce involves child custody and the case remains open.
- A drug trafficking and criminal racketeering case. In January, the Athens County Prosecutor’s Office informed Harmony Wharton it was investigating her as part of a drug trafficking and criminal enterprise case against Tonia and Daniel Martin of New Marshfield. The indictments asserted that Harmony Wharton funded what the prosecutor’s office describes as a “drug trafficking organization.” The Martins have both pleaded guilty through deals with the prosecutor’s office; the case as a whole remains under investigation.
- An open container charge. As part of the prosecutor’s investigation into the drug trafficking case, officers with the Athens County Sheriff’s Major Crimes Unit executed a search warrant on Harmony Wharton’s car. They found an empty Twisted Tea can in a plastic bag, which led to a charge of open container, later dismissed.
This story is the first in a five-part investigation looking into Petroff’s allegations.
The next chapter explores the domestic violence complaint against Bryan Wharton and Blackburn’s decision to appoint a special prosecutor for the case. The third examines Blackburn’s negotiations with Harmony Wharton and Petroff before Harmony Wharton’s name appeared in the Martins’ indictments.
The fourth examines Blackburn’s actions in the drug trafficking investigation against Harmony Wharton. The fifth examines how that case has affected the Whartons’ divorce and more deeply explores the ethical questions surrounding Blackburn’s actions.
For this story, the Independent conducted more than a dozen interviews, pored over more than 1,000 pages of court documents, including search warrants and court filings, and reviewed hours of recordings and law enforcement body camera footage.
In interviews, Blackburn limited what he shared on the record.
Bryan Wharton declined twice to comment on this investigation.
Read the second chapter in the Independent’s investigation.
All photos are provided by Harmony Wharton and were redacted by the Independent to exclude individuals not otherwise mentioned in reporting.
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