Podcaster charged with felony perjury

SANDUSKY — Local podcaster Ashli Ford was indicted on Thursday for allegedly making a false statement during testimony in her recent mortgage fraud trial. On Thursday, Ford, 41, of Milan, was indicted by an Erie County grand jury on one count of perjury, a third-degree felony. According to this most recent indictment, Ford, on or about May 21, during her trial — which related to allegations that she forged documents on a home mortgage loan — she allegedly made "a false statement under oath or affirmation." Under Ohio law, perjury is defined as "no person, in any official proceeding, shall knowingly make a false statement under oath or affirmation or knowingly swear or affirm the truth of a false statement previously made." What's it about? Ford's charges in the case included felony records tampering and forgery and centered around the prosecution's claim that she had signed a male victim's name on federal loan documents without his consent and falsely stated a familial relationship in the documents. Ford then allegedly used the funds secured in the loan to dismiss a home foreclosure action and modify the loan. During the May trial, the victim and the notary who helped Ford process the loan documents both testified that the victim was not present when Ford met the notary to have the documents notarized at the Sandusky School Board of Education on Aug. 16, 2022. Ford took the stand herself to attempt to discredit that testimony and, in doing so, testified that Eugene Sanders — the former superintendent of Sandusky Schools and the notary public's former boss — was present at the board of education on the day in question and saw the victim and Ford inside the building. The trial went to the jury on May 21, jurors deliberated for two days before Judge Beverly McGookey determined they would not be able to reach a unanimous verdict. McGookey thus ruled a mistrial on May 26. Baxter said that, despite the hung jury, his office intends to put Ford on trial once more on the same charges, which is legally allowed and does not violate the "double jeopardy" clause, as the jury could not determine the defendant's guilt or innocence. The trial is slated to begin on Sept. 28. It's believed the perjury charge will be a part of the state's case in this trial. Testimony in question Erie County prosecutor Kevin Baxter stated that a subsequent investigation showed Ford's testimony about Sanders' presence was false, as the longtime administrator had retired as superintendent in July 2022 and was in West Palm Beach, Florida, on the date in question. With this newest indictment, Ford now faces 13 felony charges in this case. She was first indicted by the Erie County grand jury in July 2025 and then again in September and January. Previous criminal conviction In August 2025, Ford was sentenced to three years of probation after being convicted of felonies relating to threatening social media posts directed at public officials. Ford opted to have a bench trial in this case, meaning a judge decides on guilt or innocence rather than a panel of 12 jurors. In May 2025, visiting Lorain County Judge Debra Boros found Ford guilty on four counts of intimidation, each a third-degree felony, and found her not guilty on 15 other charges, including extortion and telecommunications fraud. The guilty verdicts were related to the charges that Ford threatened Norwalk Mayor David Light, Norwalk law director Stu O'Hara, former Norwalk police Chief David Smith and former Norwalk safety services director Mike White by threatening "to send them to their demise in a manner more akin to Malcolm X than Martin Luther King Jr." Ford and her defense attorney, Peter Pattakos, are currently fighting to have the guilty verdicts overturned by the Ohio Sixth District Court of Appeals.