June 4, 2023 • 13 mins
Jodie Schumacher took the oath of office as Richland County Prosecutor in May of 2023. Jodie has spent close to 20 years working in a total of 3 county prosecutor's offices in the state of Ohio. Schumacher was born in Northwest Ohio and attended Tiffin University and the Toledo College of Law. Jodie has 3 kids and enjoys running in her spare time. Learn more about what the Richland County Prosecutor's Office does, along with more about Jodie on the podcast.
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(00:00):
The CEO you should know, broughtto you by Robie Foster Miller Eric Insurance.
This week CEO Richland County Prosecutor JodySchumacher. Today, we're excited.
We're gonna shine the spotlight locally onRichland County Prosecutor Jody Schumacher, who is
(00:21):
in studio today. Jody, goodmorning, Thank you for joining us.
Good morning, sir. All right, so I'm excited. You and I
have shared maybe a couple of messages. I've heard your name, but our
first chance to chat. So I'mexcited. Let's begin. Just recently took
the oath of office. Correct,Yes, so the Richland County Commissioners unanimously
(00:42):
appointed me as the acting prosecutor uponformer Prosecutor Gary Bishop's retirement. And then
I was appointed by the Richland CountyRepublican Party here just most recently to fulfill
the unexpired your term from Prosecutor Bishop. Then thereby I will be up for
(01:04):
election then in November of twenty twentyfour. All right, so somebody here's
Richland County prosecutor, could you giveme the daily duties? You know,
people hear that that title, Butwhat all do you do? Absolutely?
So myself. I'm responsible for thedaily operations of the Prosecutor's Office and that
(01:25):
includes a number of things. Sosomething that's probably most familiar to the community
is our representation of the state ofOhio through Richland County citizens and all criminal
matters. There are felony matters thatcome before the Richland County Court to common
Please. In addition to that,we have several civil statutory clients that we
represent on a daily basis, andthat's something that might be less familiar to
(01:48):
the citizens. So all of ourtownships those would be our clients. All
of the county agencies those are ourclients. The employees in their official capacity,
so we're responding to the day today legal questions and dilemmas that might
come up. All right, now, my next question would be, when
you talk about a prosecutor's office,I'm sure there's no day that's busier than
(02:13):
others, or are there days thatare busier than others, depending maybe on
cases things like that. Out ofthe terms of the workload, we never
want for work. There's always somethingto do, so we do have a
high volume of cases on the criminaldivision, but that doesn't take away anything
on a civil side either. Inaddition to that, of course, we
do have our Juvenile and Pellet divisions, So there's always something going on.
(02:38):
You're correct, any given day isjust as busy, but it just might
look a little different within the office. So we have our trial days on
Mondays and tuesdays. We're proceeding totrial in the various courtrooms. But our
docket days in the different courtrooms onvarious days definitely keep us running and hopping,
and the phone is always ringing withour civil clients. Hearing the voice
(03:00):
today of Jody Schumacher, who isthis week CEO. You should know she
is the Richland County Prosecutor. Nowwhere is your office located at within the
county? Now? Thank you?So we were right across from the Richland
County Court to common Please address wouldbe thirty eight South Park Street, Mansfield.
When you talk about your office,do you have a ballpark? In
(03:23):
terms of the number of employees youmentioned you have, you know, multiple
divisions, you know, so muchgoing on. How many people do you
guys employ? So we currently havetwenty five employees and we are down I
believe that's down at least three positionscurrently that we are seeking to fill.
Okay, so you actually are currentlyhiring. Yes, we do have vacancies
right now. Okay. Would theybe able to go on to the county
(03:45):
website to be able to see thoseor I do believe we have those posted
there. We also have those postedthrough the Ohio Prosecuting Attorney's Association, the
Ohio State Bar Association, as wellas through the National District Attorney's Association.
Okay, great, So if somebodyis interest, did you know that field
of work? I feel free togo online Richland County, oh Dot Governor,
as you mentioned several other channels tobe able to find that. Now
(04:09):
in terms of you just recently named, of course Richling County prosecutor, but
you have a lot of experience.Could we get a little bit of the
background here, Yeah, thank you. So I've been a public servant,
specifically a career prosecutor now eighteen fullyears moving into nineteen. My career has
taken me in Wayne County, inOttawa County as well as Richland County,
(04:30):
all serving as an assistant prosecuting attorney. All right, Well, it's glad
to learn about you, and we'regoing to get back it's more of your
work in a moment. But let'sstep away from work and find out a
little bit more about you. Let'sgo back to the beginning. Could we
find out where was Jody Schumacher born? So? I was born officially in
(04:51):
Oregon, Ohio and Northwest Ohio,but then raised in Genoa, Ohio,
a small little town northwest Ohio,Ottawa County. Specifically, so I attended
Genoa Area schools, graduated from GenoaArea High School. Then I don't care
to mention the year not no worriesabout that. No worries about that,
(05:14):
but sort of for people that maybedon't know in the Toledo area roughly somewhere
up that way. Or yes,maybe people are more familiar with Otto County
as it relates to Putting Bay soor the westernmost town in Ottawa County.
People like Putting Bay good. Ilike that, all right? So we
heard about high school. Where'd yougo to college? Thank you? Undergrad
I attended Tiffin University. I playedsoftball while I attended and obtained my bachelor's
(05:41):
degree. Following Tiffin University, Idid go to the University of Toledo College
of Law, where I completed mylaw degree. Okay, so, my
question would be, growing up NorthwestOhio, what was there always the dream
to be a lawyer, prosecutor?Where where the other aspirations talk about as
you're growing up into kind of whereyou are now? Thank you so interestingly.
(06:06):
No, I did not necessarily thinkthat being an attorney was attainable.
To be honest, mom working asa nurse, the dad working as a
foreman, and then eventually into thefire service. Just average. I would
say. The only thing I knewabout attorneys is what I had seen on
TV. All of them seemed tohave went to like Harvard Law, were
(06:29):
certainly well off and very affluent.I remember coming home from grade school with
some frequency and telling mom what hadhappened during the day and complaining, I
guess that whatever happened on the playgroundwasn't fair because maybe all of us got
punished, or the classroom got punished. And Mom would say, well,
Honey, I think maybe you needto be a judge. I didn't necessarily
(06:51):
take that to heart, but itdid rear its head later on in my
life. I always wanted to gointo the medical field. That was near
to my heart. I guess stillhave interests. Maybe your aspirations, curiosities
as it relates to emergency room liketrauma surgeon type thing. But as I
(07:13):
got older, hearing moms and dad'sconversations as it relates to the medical field,
that's kind of got me away fromthere. And then I really focused
my dreams on playing softball, collegiatesoftball. So it wasn't until my junior
year in college or undergrad where Ihad a fellow softball player who happened to
(07:34):
be studying for the l SAT.And I wasn't sure what she was doing,
and alexis, why are you spendingso much time in your room and
what are you doing on the computerAnd she explained, well, I'm studying
for the l SAT. And askedher what that was and she explains the
entrance exam to law school. Knowingthat I was graduation was right around the
corner of my undergrad degree, Ithought, you know what, that's what
(07:56):
I'm gonna do. I called mymom that night and I said, Mom,
I'm going to law school. Andher first response to me was,
you know, you're gonna have topay for that. So but I am
forever grateful for Mom, and thoseare It may sound harsh, she was
certainly supportive. Mom and dad wereboth very supportive of me. But those
(08:18):
are important lessons too. So,oh, it's great to learn the story.
And you know, some people knowtheir whole life growing up what they
want to do. Sometimes you findout along the way and in terms of
you at college and where you aretoday. So terrific to learn the story
this morning of Jody Schumacher. We'regoing to keep her for a few more
minutes. Richland County Prosecutor this week, CEO, you should know, well,
(08:41):
while we're on the topic of you, I don't know if you have
any kids and anything like that.So could we learn a little more about
Jody Schumacher and the family? Absolutely? So. I do have three children.
My oldest is seventeen, my sonin the middle is fifteen, and
then my youngest coming up behind usthirteen, all of them active in their
own ways. The girls are involvedin volleyball and softball, and then my
(09:05):
son is on the robotics team aswell as in the begins several different bands,
Symphonic marching jazz band as well.All right, well, my question
would be your accounty prosecutor, youhave three kids. I'm sure there's not
a lot of spare time in there, right, No, not a lot
of spare time. I'm always juggling. What do you do when you're not
(09:28):
working? Do you have any hobbies? What do you if you get a
moment where it's Jody's day, Jody'sa few minutes whatever, What do you
like to do? I'm probably running? Okay, so I didn't learn it
until maybe recently, but I doenjoy running. So I've accomplished a few
marathons or finished a few marathons.Now I enjoy both trail runs as well
as road runs. All right,Well, terrific to learn all about Jody
(09:52):
Schumacher this morning. So as wetalk about the prosecutor's office, I'm just
asking, I don't know how thisworks. I know we're talking to like
a law enforcement whether it's a policechief, a sheriff's department. I know
that they talk to other departments.Do you work with other prosecutors across the
state? I mean, how doesall that work? Absolutely, we're always
(10:13):
networking because while you never want tonecessarily reinvent the wheel, so before you
go out a lemb you do wantto consult with your peers and see if
they've encountered similar maybe situations or dilemmasor questions, especially with the changing laws,
how those are impacting us, seeinghow others are implementing maybe policies,
(10:35):
procedures as it relates to those changinglaws. It's not always great to be
the first to the Court of Appeals, so we want to make sure we
are always consulting with our peers acrossthe state. In fact, I was
just on the phone this morning withMedina County prosecutors. Okay, great,
good to learn about that. Yeah, it's always great to you know,
you know, talk with other counties. You mentioned other prosecutors. Is there
(10:58):
any thing that we haven't touched onthis morning about the prosecutor's office in Richland
County that you want to let thepublic know about. Did we miss anything?
Is there anything we haven't touched on? We are your office, I
guess is what I would say toour citizens if they have questions, I
always encourage them to contact us,whether that by email or by phone.
(11:22):
We do have a victim advocacy program. I think that maybe sometimes is people
might be unaware of. But ifyou have questions as it relates to that
advocacy and encourage people to reach outto us and ask to speak to those
advocates and they can get victims inpointed in the right direction as it relates
to resources around the community. Okay, So if somebody has a question about
(11:45):
that or just in general, thebest way is there a best phone number
to go to. Sure one numbergets you to all the divisions. That's
four one nine seven seven four fivesix seven six, all right, And
you can go online to Richland County, oh dot gov and then click on
the tab Ford departments and you'll beable to find the Prosecutor's office. I
(12:05):
was just on there right now andshe mentioned Civil Division, Criminal Juvenile Division,
and the Victim's Services. All thosehave links where you can get more
information. Well, Jody, it'sbeen great to learn about you from northwest
Ohio. I know what twenty yearsor so roughly of experience in the prosecutor's
office now here as the Richland CountyProsecutor. It's been great to learn your
(12:28):
story. Thank you so much forcoming in and we wish you continued success.
Thank you eron much appreciated Richland CountyProsecutor. Jody Schumacher thus CEO.
You should know Rita Bio see aphoto and hear the extended interview at WMAANFM
dot com. Leading means having avision and sharing it with others. I'm
(12:50):
John Roby of RF and ME Insurance. We're excited to bring you this program
featuring CEOs from our area who willshare the thoughts of what it means to
work and live in north central Ohio.
The CEO you should know, broughtto you by Robie Foster Miller Eric Insurance.
This week CEO Richland County Prosecutor JodySchumacher. Today, we're excited.
We're gonna shine the spotlight locally onRichland County Prosecutor Jody Schumacher, who is
(00:21):
in studio today. Jody, goodmorning, Thank you for joining us.
Good morning, sir. All right, so I'm excited. You and I
have shared maybe a couple of messages. I've heard your name, but our
first chance to chat. So I'mexcited. Let's begin. Just recently took
the oath of office. Correct,Yes, so the Richland County Commissioners unanimously
(00:42):
appointed me as the acting prosecutor uponformer Prosecutor Gary Bishop's retirement. And then
I was appointed by the Richland CountyRepublican Party here just most recently to fulfill
the unexpired your term from Prosecutor Bishop. Then thereby I will be up for
(01:04):
election then in November of twenty twentyfour. All right, so somebody here's
Richland County prosecutor, could you giveme the daily duties? You know,
people hear that that title, Butwhat all do you do? Absolutely?
So myself. I'm responsible for thedaily operations of the Prosecutor's Office and that
(01:25):
includes a number of things. Sosomething that's probably most familiar to the community
is our representation of the state ofOhio through Richland County citizens and all criminal
matters. There are felony matters thatcome before the Richland County Court to common
Please. In addition to that,we have several civil statutory clients that we
represent on a daily basis, andthat's something that might be less familiar to
(01:48):
the citizens. So all of ourtownships those would be our clients. All
of the county agencies those are ourclients. The employees in their official capacity,
so we're responding to the day today legal questions and dilemmas that might
come up. All right, now, my next question would be, when
you talk about a prosecutor's office,I'm sure there's no day that's busier than
(02:13):
others, or are there days thatare busier than others, depending maybe on
cases things like that. Out ofthe terms of the workload, we never
want for work. There's always somethingto do, so we do have a
high volume of cases on the criminaldivision, but that doesn't take away anything
on a civil side either. Inaddition to that, of course, we
do have our Juvenile and Pellet divisions, So there's always something going on.
(02:38):
You're correct, any given day isjust as busy, but it just might
look a little different within the office. So we have our trial days on
Mondays and tuesdays. We're proceeding totrial in the various courtrooms. But our
docket days in the different courtrooms onvarious days definitely keep us running and hopping,
and the phone is always ringing withour civil clients. Hearing the voice
(03:00):
today of Jody Schumacher, who isthis week CEO. You should know she
is the Richland County Prosecutor. Nowwhere is your office located at within the
county? Now? Thank you?So we were right across from the Richland
County Court to common Please address wouldbe thirty eight South Park Street, Mansfield.
When you talk about your office,do you have a ballpark? In
(03:23):
terms of the number of employees youmentioned you have, you know, multiple
divisions, you know, so muchgoing on. How many people do you
guys employ? So we currently havetwenty five employees and we are down I
believe that's down at least three positionscurrently that we are seeking to fill.
Okay, so you actually are currentlyhiring. Yes, we do have vacancies
right now. Okay. Would theybe able to go on to the county
(03:45):
website to be able to see thoseor I do believe we have those posted
there. We also have those postedthrough the Ohio Prosecuting Attorney's Association, the
Ohio State Bar Association, as wellas through the National District Attorney's Association.
Okay, great, So if somebodyis interest, did you know that field
of work? I feel free togo online Richland County, oh Dot Governor,
as you mentioned several other channels tobe able to find that. Now
(04:09):
in terms of you just recently named, of course Richling County prosecutor, but
you have a lot of experience.Could we get a little bit of the
background here, Yeah, thank you. So I've been a public servant,
specifically a career prosecutor now eighteen fullyears moving into nineteen. My career has
taken me in Wayne County, inOttawa County as well as Richland County,
(04:30):
all serving as an assistant prosecuting attorney. All right, Well, it's glad
to learn about you, and we'regoing to get back it's more of your
work in a moment. But let'sstep away from work and find out a
little bit more about you. Let'sgo back to the beginning. Could we
find out where was Jody Schumacher born? So? I was born officially in
(04:51):
Oregon, Ohio and Northwest Ohio,but then raised in Genoa, Ohio,
a small little town northwest Ohio,Ottawa County. Specifically, so I attended
Genoa Area schools, graduated from GenoaArea High School. Then I don't care
to mention the year not no worriesabout that. No worries about that,
(05:14):
but sort of for people that maybedon't know in the Toledo area roughly somewhere
up that way. Or yes,maybe people are more familiar with Otto County
as it relates to Putting Bay soor the westernmost town in Ottawa County.
People like Putting Bay good. Ilike that, all right? So we
heard about high school. Where'd yougo to college? Thank you? Undergrad
I attended Tiffin University. I playedsoftball while I attended and obtained my bachelor's
(05:41):
degree. Following Tiffin University, Idid go to the University of Toledo College
of Law, where I completed mylaw degree. Okay, so, my
question would be, growing up NorthwestOhio, what was there always the dream
to be a lawyer, prosecutor?Where where the other aspirations talk about as
you're growing up into kind of whereyou are now? Thank you so interestingly.
(06:06):
No, I did not necessarily thinkthat being an attorney was attainable.
To be honest, mom working asa nurse, the dad working as a
foreman, and then eventually into thefire service. Just average. I would
say. The only thing I knewabout attorneys is what I had seen on
TV. All of them seemed tohave went to like Harvard Law, were
(06:29):
certainly well off and very affluent.I remember coming home from grade school with
some frequency and telling mom what hadhappened during the day and complaining, I
guess that whatever happened on the playgroundwasn't fair because maybe all of us got
punished, or the classroom got punished. And Mom would say, well,
Honey, I think maybe you needto be a judge. I didn't necessarily
(06:51):
take that to heart, but itdid rear its head later on in my
life. I always wanted to gointo the medical field. That was near
to my heart. I guess stillhave interests. Maybe your aspirations, curiosities
as it relates to emergency room liketrauma surgeon type thing. But as I
(07:13):
got older, hearing moms and dad'sconversations as it relates to the medical field,
that's kind of got me away fromthere. And then I really focused
my dreams on playing softball, collegiatesoftball. So it wasn't until my junior
year in college or undergrad where Ihad a fellow softball player who happened to
(07:34):
be studying for the l SAT.And I wasn't sure what she was doing,
and alexis, why are you spendingso much time in your room and
what are you doing on the computerAnd she explained, well, I'm studying
for the l SAT. And askedher what that was and she explains the
entrance exam to law school. Knowingthat I was graduation was right around the
corner of my undergrad degree, Ithought, you know what, that's what
(07:56):
I'm gonna do. I called mymom that night and I said, Mom,
I'm going to law school. Andher first response to me was,
you know, you're gonna have topay for that. So but I am
forever grateful for Mom, and thoseare It may sound harsh, she was
certainly supportive. Mom and dad wereboth very supportive of me. But those
(08:18):
are important lessons too. So,oh, it's great to learn the story.
And you know, some people knowtheir whole life growing up what they
want to do. Sometimes you findout along the way and in terms of
you at college and where you aretoday. So terrific to learn the story
this morning of Jody Schumacher. We'regoing to keep her for a few more
minutes. Richland County Prosecutor this week, CEO, you should know, well,
(08:41):
while we're on the topic of you, I don't know if you have
any kids and anything like that.So could we learn a little more about
Jody Schumacher and the family? Absolutely? So. I do have three children.
My oldest is seventeen, my sonin the middle is fifteen, and
then my youngest coming up behind usthirteen, all of them active in their
own ways. The girls are involvedin volleyball and softball, and then my
(09:05):
son is on the robotics team aswell as in the begins several different bands,
Symphonic marching jazz band as well.All right, well, my question
would be your accounty prosecutor, youhave three kids. I'm sure there's not
a lot of spare time in there, right, No, not a lot
of spare time. I'm always juggling. What do you do when you're not
(09:28):
working? Do you have any hobbies? What do you if you get a
moment where it's Jody's day, Jody'sa few minutes whatever, What do you
like to do? I'm probably running? Okay, so I didn't learn it
until maybe recently, but I doenjoy running. So I've accomplished a few
marathons or finished a few marathons.Now I enjoy both trail runs as well
as road runs. All right,Well, terrific to learn all about Jody
(09:52):
Schumacher this morning. So as wetalk about the prosecutor's office, I'm just
asking, I don't know how thisworks. I know we're talking to like
a law enforcement whether it's a policechief, a sheriff's department. I know
that they talk to other departments.Do you work with other prosecutors across the
state? I mean, how doesall that work? Absolutely, we're always
(10:13):
networking because while you never want tonecessarily reinvent the wheel, so before you
go out a lemb you do wantto consult with your peers and see if
they've encountered similar maybe situations or dilemmasor questions, especially with the changing laws,
how those are impacting us, seeinghow others are implementing maybe policies,
(10:35):
procedures as it relates to those changinglaws. It's not always great to be
the first to the Court of Appeals, so we want to make sure we
are always consulting with our peers acrossthe state. In fact, I was
just on the phone this morning withMedina County prosecutors. Okay, great,
good to learn about that. Yeah, it's always great to you know,
you know, talk with other counties. You mentioned other prosecutors. Is there
(10:58):
any thing that we haven't touched onthis morning about the prosecutor's office in Richland
County that you want to let thepublic know about. Did we miss anything?
Is there anything we haven't touched on? We are your office, I
guess is what I would say toour citizens if they have questions, I
always encourage them to contact us,whether that by email or by phone.
(11:22):
We do have a victim advocacy program. I think that maybe sometimes is people
might be unaware of. But ifyou have questions as it relates to that
advocacy and encourage people to reach outto us and ask to speak to those
advocates and they can get victims inpointed in the right direction as it relates
to resources around the community. Okay, So if somebody has a question about
(11:45):
that or just in general, thebest way is there a best phone number
to go to. Sure one numbergets you to all the divisions. That's
four one nine seven seven four fivesix seven six, all right, And
you can go online to Richland County, oh dot gov and then click on
the tab Ford departments and you'll beable to find the Prosecutor's office. I
(12:05):
was just on there right now andshe mentioned Civil Division, Criminal Juvenile Division,
and the Victim's Services. All thosehave links where you can get more
information. Well, Jody, it'sbeen great to learn about you from northwest
Ohio. I know what twenty yearsor so roughly of experience in the prosecutor's
office now here as the Richland CountyProsecutor. It's been great to learn your
(12:28):
story. Thank you so much forcoming in and we wish you continued success.
Thank you eron much appreciated Richland CountyProsecutor. Jody Schumacher thus CEO.
You should know Rita Bio see aphoto and hear the extended interview at WMAANFM
dot com. Leading means having avision and sharing it with others. I'm
(12:50):
John Roby of RF and ME Insurance. We're excited to bring you this program
featuring CEOs from our area who willshare the thoughts of what it means to
work and live in north central Ohio.
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