A Sylvania man sentenced to eight years in prison by a Wood County court – whose conviction was later
overturned by the Ohio Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals – will be getting a new trial.
Herbie Betz, 43, will have a trial beginning July 21. Five days are reserved for the matter.
The trial date was originally set in February; a further pretrial conference concerning the date was held
Tuesday before Judge Robert Pollex.
Betz was released after bond was set in February following serving 20 months of an eight-year prison
term. He had been incarcerated in the Noble Correctional Institution in Caldwell, but was later moved to
the Wood County jail.
He was convicted in 2012 on eight felony counts, including engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity,
money laundering, illegal use of food stamps, and receiving stolen property.
His wife, Michelle Betz, 45, was sentenced to five years and his mother, Thelma Fowler, 71, was sentenced
to eight years in the case. Both remain incarcerated at the Ohio Reformatory for Women at Marysville.

The trio were judged to be ring-leaders of a crime ring which reportedly operated in Ohio, Michigan and
Indiana, and involved 70 people.
However, Herbie Betz’s conviction was reversed by the Sixth Circuit after they judged a mistrial should
have been granted in the case. Two jurors stated they felt intimidated by actions they reportedly saw
undertaken by two of Betz’s family members during a recess in the trial. Despite that, they were
permitted to deliberate on the case and arrive at a verdict.