The above video is from FOX19 NOW’s previous reporting.
CINCINNATI (WXIX) – Hamilton County Probate Court Judge Ralph Winkler was publicly reprimanded Wednesday and ordered to pay court disciplinary costs after making “inaccurate” and “degrading” statements on Facebook about a previous case.
In October 2023, the Ohio State Bar Association charged Judge Winkler with professional misconduct for “permitting” his deputy court administrator, Scott Weikel, to make false statements to a news reporter and publish those inaccurate comments online, according to a per curiam opinion.
These charges and Winkler’s punishment stem from a 2013 Hamilton County court case involving Mary McCulloch and her three adult children: Theresa McClean, Kathleen Bosse and John Robert McCulloch.
background
Mary, an 83-year-old widow, filed a petition with the probate court in July 2013 for a non-family conservator, the opinion states. In the petition, she claimed she was capable of doing so, and the probate court appointed an attorney as her conservator.
A month later, McClean filed a motion to terminate the guardianship on the grounds that her mother was unable to provide it. McClean then filed to become her guardian, but Mary’s guardian filed a motion for conditional guardianship.
In 2014, the probate court declared Mary incompetent, and the guardianship she had applied for herself was terminated. However, because she was declared incompetent, the court appointed the same attorney as her guardian.
At that time, Winkler was not yet a judge in the Hamilton County Probate Court.
Winkler sits on the bench
In the fall of 2015, Winkler served as sole probate judge. He later allowed another attorney to be appointed as Mary’s guardian when her previous one resigned.
Unhappy with the decision, Kathleen and Rob sent numerous emails and letters to the probate court accusing the guardian of misconduct and filing complaints about the entire process.
In addition, Winkler said he found three websites that used the name of the guardian and two probate judges. Although it is not known who created these websites, Winkler claimed it was Rob and Kathleen.
Fast forward to January 2019: A news reporter contacted Winkler’s office about the McCulloch case.
Weikel, who is under the judge’s supervision, told the reporter that Mary “was removed from her home because it was a dirty, unsafe living environment” and Rob “was not taking proper care of her,” court documents say.
The reporter then asked Rob for comment and emailed him what Weikel had said. Rob responded that the comments were not true.
In March 2019, a detective with the Hamilton County Prosecutor’s Office sent Rob a letter alleging that he had allegedly sent “threatening and harassing correspondence” to the probate judge and several assistant prosecutors. As a result, Rob was no longer allowed to contact the probate judge or the judge regarding his mother’s guardianship, the opinion said.
A digital trace
On October 23, 2020, Winkler posted an interview titled “14 Questions for Kendal M. Coes” on his Facebook account, “Hamilton County Probate Court, Judge Ralph Winkler.” Nearly two years later, Rob left a comment on that post criticizing the judge.
Winkler Rob responded via his Hamilton County Facebook account:
“Rob McCulloch, you are just angry because we had to step in and take care of your mother when you didn’t. You were living in your mother’s home in deplorable conditions. I am glad a kind neighbor called senior services and we got your mother into a safe, clean and healthy care facility. God only knows what would have happened to her if a neighborhood good Samaritan had not reported this elder abuse. The photos from the home that are available as evidence do not lie. Anyone in the public can view them as they are part of your mother’s file.”
During his disciplinary hearing, Rob wrote a response on Facebook, according to Winkler. According to court documents, the judge responded with the following:
“You lost your case because you were wrong. You questioned that poor woman with dementia with leading questions to prove you were not wrong. However, you were wrong to not take care of your mother. When you did make it to court, you often reeked of alcohol. Also, you missed many hearings for unknown reasons. Don’t try to blame my court or Judge Coes for your inadequacies as a son. I’m glad your neighbor reported this to the authorities. Your mother could have died or suffered needlessly if my court hadn’t helped her.”
Winkler admitted that his and Weikel’s statements were false and misleading and that the photographs he had seen of Mary’s home were taken “sometime after” she had been moved to an assisted living facility.
Not only did the court acknowledge further inaccuracies in Winkler’s claims, but it was also unable to determine whether anyone else had seen the comments he posted on Facebook, as he deleted them moments later.
Ohio Supreme Court Chief Justice Sharon L. Kennedy and Justices R. Patrick DeWine, Michael P. Donnelly and Melody Stewart joined in the opinion.
Do you see a spelling or grammatical error in our story? Click here to report it.
Do you have a photo or video of a recent news story? Send it here with a short description.
All rights reserved.
