The staff psychologist who evaluated Higgins concluded he “is competent to stand trial, and at the time of the commission of the acts constituting the alleged offense, the Defendant did not exhibit symptoms of a major mental illness that would have precluded his ability to appreciate the quality or the wrongfulness of his actions,” according to Rose’s order.
In May Higgins, 50, of Dayton, was remanded to custody for the competency evaluation. On July 28 Rose ordered that Higgins be released within 24 hours of completion of the evaluation, according to court documents.
Prosecutors did not object to the evaluation request, which was filed under a sealed motion.
Higgins was indicted on three counts of mail fraud, two counts of wire fraud and two counts of tampering with a witness.
Indictments in the federal investigation of public corruption in the Dayton region were announced in April 2019 and additional indictments were announced later that year.
Three people indicted in the investigation were convicted and sentenced to prison.
They are: former Dayton City Commissioner Joey D. Williams, 55, of Dayton; former state Rep. Clayton Luckie, 58, of Dayton; and former Dayton city employee RoShawn Winburn, 47, of Huber Heights. Luckie served his term, and Williams was released early last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Winburn was supposed to be begin serving his six-month sentence on Sept. 6 but on Monday U.S. Attorney Vipal J. Patel requested that Windburn’s prison report date be moved to Jan. 10.
Green Star Trucking, owned by former Trotwood Mayor Joyce Sutton Cameron, and Steve Rauch Inc., owned by Steve Rauch of Germantown, pleaded guilty to one count each of conspiracy to engage in mail fraud and were fined.
In exchange for the plea, charges were dropped against Rauch, 66; Cameron, 72; and her husband, James Cameron, 82, of Trotwood.
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