This is the third chapter in a five-part investigation. To start at the beginning, click here.
ATHENS, Ohio — On Jan. 18, 2024 — less than three months after her husband filed for divorce — Harmony Wharton called Scott Petroff, who had been her victim’s rights attorney when she called in a domestic violence complaint against her husband, Bryan Wharton, in October 2023.
The Athens County Sheriff’s Office had asked her to come in for an interview, according to Petroff’s Jan. 31 affidavit. (The Independent could not independently verify this information; ACSO declined a records request for communications between Harmony Wharton and/or her attorney and Athens County Sheriff’s Office due to “attorney-client communication and investigatory work product” privileges.)
When Petroff called the sheriff’s office, he learned that Athens County Prosecutor Keller Blackburn wanted Harmony Wharton to testify before a grand jury in a drug case against Tonia and Daniel Martin of New Marshfield.
But — initially, at least — that wasn’t all Blackburn wanted.
In the Jan. 31 affidavit, filed in the Athens County Court of Common Pleas, Petroff stated that a detective told him “Blackburn requested that Harmony Wharton come provide information about the Martin investigation, seek substance misuse treatment, and be supervised by Blackburn’s office. In exchange no charges would be filed against Harmony.”
Blackburn told the Independent he had a combination of “personal and professional knowledge” that Harmony Wharton needed substance use treatment. Specifically, he asserted that Harmony Wharton approached him several years ago to seek help for issues with alcohol and substance use.
“I contacted people in my office … who contacted a treatment provider, who set up a conversation,” Blackburn told the Independent. “It’s my understanding that they had about an hour and a half conversation [with Harmony] about potential treatment, and then eventually didn’t go anywhere.”
Harmony Wharton denied in an interview with the Independent that such a conversation ever took place.
“There was no such thing,” she said.
In Harmony Wharton’s telling, Blackburn asked her to come to his office to discuss a separate legal matter. Toward the end of the conversation, she said, he asked about her ongoing recovery from a neck injury.
“I said, you know, ‘I want to get off of medication,’” because Harmony Wharton’s doctors had tried several different medications. She wasn’t seeking help for addiction, she explained, but rather telling her friend about her experience with health care.
Blackburn told the Independent, “That’s not true.”
Harmony Wharton said in an interview with the Independent she does not have a problem with substance use.
Blackburn said his office often includes offers of substance use treatment and monitoring when seeking cooperation in criminal investigations.
“We offer people treatment and cooperation all the time,” Blackburn said. “People who come and cooperate, we give treatment to all of the time.”
According to his affidavit, Petroff told Blackburn that Blackburn’s offer for Harmony Wharton to enter drug treatment and monitoring “would likely have an adverse effect on the divorce proceedings,” but “Blackburn dismissed my concerns out of hand.”
The right to remain silent
In his affidavit, Petroff stated that the sheriff’s detective referred further questions to Assistant Prosecutor Andrew Sanderson. Sanderson refused to provide further details so Petroff “refused to allow detectives to interview Harmony.”
He then contacted Blackburn, “who provided some details of the allegations,” the affidavit stated. However, the prosecutor “refused to provide me with any evidence of Harmony’s involvement in criminal activity,” Petroff stated in the affidavit. Therefore, he advised Harmony Wharton against accepting the deal.
“It’s kind of hard for me to advise somebody that it’s in their best interest to [cooperate] unless the state provides some sort of evidence that they’ve engaged in wrongdoing,” Petroff told the Independent. “The burden of proof is on the state of Ohio.”
But Blackburn said in an interview that not sharing evidence before plea negotiations are over is a standard way — in his office — to verify the “credibility of the information you’re getting.”
“If the agreement is that all you have to do is tell me the truth and you’re not getting charged, then there’s no harm,” Blackburn said. “If there’s no criminal liability, then just being truthful is typical, and it’s something we do all the time.”
Blackburn said he offered Harmony Wharton “a better deal than most county prosecutors would have ever offered.”
“To try to say something’s being done improperly in which your client’s not going to be charged is absurd,” Blackburn said. “It’s the same deal I would have offered anyone else because I think that we have to treat addiction.”
Blackburn said that while a combination of “personal and professional knowledge” informed his belief that Harmony Wharton has issues with substance use, he “absolutely” did not use personal knowledge to inform the investigation of her involvement with the Martins.
“It turned out during the course of that investigation that she has accusations that are contained in the indictment,” Blackburn 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, said that Blackburn’s personal knowledge of Harmony Wharton’s alleged substance use is an ethical red flag, however, for his involvement in the criminal investigation.
“The fact that he has this information is just another indicator that there is a conflict of interest,” Zirke said.
On Jan. 12, Petroff accepted a subpoena for Harmony Wharton to testify before the grand jury hearing the Martins’ case. Because Blackburn’s office refused to share the evidence implicating Harmony Wharton, Petroff advised her to remain silent.
On Jan. 22, the grand jury handed down indictments against Tonia and Daniel Martin. The indictments assert that Harmony Wharton not only bought drugs from the Martins, but allege she is bankrolling the organization by “providing U.S. currency for the purpose of obtaining narcotics that are later sold by the drug trafficking organization.”
Harmony Wharton denies having a drug problem and any criminal involvement with the Martins.
Read the fourth chapter in the Independent’s investigation.
Let us know what's happening in your neck of the woods!
Get in touch and share a story!
