Small-town mayor charged after teen girl caught him sniffing her underwear
Wesley Dingus, mayor of Butler, Ohio, is charged with two counts of voyeurism. Richland County Jail
A small-town Ohio mayor has been charged with voyeurism after a teenage girl reportedly recorded him entering her bedroom and interacting with her personal clothing, according to investigators.
Wesley Dingus, 48, the mayor of Butler, Ohio, was arrested Feb. 13 following an investigation prompted by video evidence the girl provided to authorities, local outlet Richland Source reported.
The girl, described in reports as a relative in Dingus’s care, told deputies she installed a hidden camera in her bedroom after suspecting he had been entering the room while she was away. According to a report from the Richland County Sheriff’s Office, she left home around 7 a.m. Jan. 13 and received a motion alert about 15 minutes later. When she checked the footage, she allegedly saw Dingus enter the room and handle her undergarments.
She reported receiving another motion alert the following morning at 7:17 a.m. Video from that day again showed Dingus entering the room and interacting with clothing items while touching his groin area over his clothes, the report stated.
After deputies reviewed the footage, they interviewed the girl at her high school the next day. Dingus declined to speak with investigators after police became aware of the recordings.
Dingus has served as mayor of Butler — a village of fewer than 1,000 residents — since 2022. He was charged with two counts of voyeurism and appeared in Mansfield Municipal Court, where he was released after posting 10% of a $10,000 bond. A judge ordered him to wear a GPS monitor and prohibited contact with the girl.
The case comes while Dingus was already free on bond in a separate felony case from 2025. In that incident, reported by WKYC, he allegedly struck a fleeing suspect with his vehicle while attempting to stop him. Dingus pleaded not guilty in that matter, and the injured man was expected to recover.
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