DAYTON — Federal search warrant records from 2014 unsealed last week show FBI agents once investigated whether Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley accepted bribes while a city commissioner.
Those allegations came to light as part of FBI applications for search warrants in the long-running Dayton corruption probe that led to a half-dozen businesses and individuals being charged, including Steve Rauch, Inc.
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Whaley was never charged or convicted of any crime in connection to the probe, which began in 2013 and 2014.
However, the newly unsealed federal court documents make it clear that FBI agents suspected she might have been given money as a bribe.
“Certainly, this is the first time I’ve heard of these. They were just unsealed a couple days ago. These are seven year old documents. It’s false and untrue,” Whaley told News Center 7′s Mike Campbell in a one-on-one interview.
Whaley said she never knew she was under suspicion seven years ago, or at any point after the corruption probe became public in 2019. She insists she never accepted bribe money.
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“This is the truth right. Nothing was taken. This is completely false. This unsubstantiated allegation is completely false,” Whaley said.
The information is coming out now, because federal court documents about the Dayton corruption probe have been unsealed.
That includes applications written by federal agents for search warrants.
The FBI agents outlined their suspicions back in 2013 and 2014 about Whaley taking money from city contractor Steve Rauch.
They claimed a Rauch manager, “Said in recorded phone calls with another company official that Whaley accepted cash bribes from Rauch on multiple occasions,” court documents read.
The agents claimed a now deceased Montgomery County official served as the cash courier, “What he((official)) does is he acts as the intermediary so Nan(Whaley) doesn’t have to come out here…he comes out here and collects all the money.”
The documents also said that another company official asked that manager ”Even Nan Whaley is in on that deal?” His response was “Oh Yeah, very much so,” court documents said.
But, the investigation stretched on for five more years from that point and when federal prosecutors announced charges, Mayor Nan Whaley was never mentioned.
A city commissioner, a department manager and two men doing business with the city faced charges in the first round.
Steve Rauch’s company was accused of wrongdoing in the second round and eventually convicted, but the Mayor was never charged with any wrongdoing.
Whaley believes that proves the FBI investigation cleared her.
“I feel very good about them doing their due diligence, doing their work, we are grateful they do this work to root out corruption,” Whaley said.
Whaley said she was never interviewed by the FBI.
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