Background: News footage of Ashli Ford outside of court (WTOL). Inset: The logo for Ashli Ford’s podcast, “Allegedly” (Patreon).
An Ohio-based true crime podcaster was found guilty of intimidating city officials in a Facebook post she wrote in 2023.
Ashli Ford, aged 40, was found guilty on Thursday for four out of the 19 charges she faced during her trial, which included 16 felony counts. As reported in court documents reviewed by the local CBS station WTOL, Ford was convicted on four charges of intimidation, while she was cleared of other accusations such as extortion, telecommunications fraud, and misdemeanor falsification.
Ford, who hosts the “Allegedly” true crime podcast, faced these charges after being indicted in March 2024. This followed a controversial Facebook post she made in September 2023, where she accused various officials from Norwalk, Ohio of misconduct.
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The controversial Facebook post, dated September 22, 2023, mentioned by name several city officials from Norwalk, including Mayor David Light, law director and prosecutor Stuart O’Hara, safety and service director Michael White, and former police chief David Smith, accusing them of corrupt activities.
All of them were witnesses for the prosecution during the trial.
Along with her accusations, Ford wrote a series of threats against the city officials, including, “I know that I have you on your knees” and “This is your VERY LAST opportunity to end this in a respectable manner.”
Ford went on to write, “I will slowly crumble the reputation [of] every single person who stands in the way of justice,” adding, “I will escort you to your demise in a manner more akin to Malcolm X than Martin Luther King Jr.”
In her post, the screenshot of which was obtained by WTOL from the Erie County Clerk of Courts, Ford claimed that she would expose “every single low down dirty deed” including misspent fines, obscene photos, “shut up settlements,” a “human trafficking drug ring,” “suicides that ain’t suicides,” and more.
WTOL reported that when Ford published the post, she was already facing two criminal falsification charges in connection to accusations she had allegedly made against the Norwalk Police Department. She was ultimately acquitted on those charges.
Ford is due back in court for sentencing on June 16 and faces nine to 36 months in prison plus a fine of up to $10,000 for each of the four counts.
In a Facebook post following the verdict, Ford wrote to her audience, “Your support means everything to me. I am okay. God built me to withstand storms like this. I continue to walk in faith and without an ounce of fear. The actions throughout my life will always defend me.”
