INVESTIGATIONS

Aviation Unit

The Butler County Sheriff’s Office operates an aviation unit with two helicopters: a Robinson R44 and a Bell OH58.  They are used for crime related searches, missing people, photo flights, river patrol missions, drug related flights and funerals.  They also operate five drones that assist in traffic investigation and small area searches.

Weights and Scales

The Weights and Scales Unit performs enforcement duties on the transportation of heavy loads throughout Butler County. The unit aids in the prevention of major damage and tremendous repair costs associated with overweight loads traversing our roadways and bridges.

Fines associated with overweight loads are utilized to conduct repairs to the roadways throughout the county. 

Sheriff Sales

All Sheriff's Mortgage Foreclosure Sales and Tax Sales are being held on the Butler County RealAuction website: Butler County Ohio Foreclosure Site

NOTICE: The Butler County Sheriff's Office is NOT associated in any way with the showing of properties. Please do not contact us to try to view, gain access to, or arrange for a separate appraisal of any of the properties subject to Sheriff's Sales.

The appraisals we conduct are done so to help one establish a minimum opening bid. They are done without any inside inspection of the property, and the Sheriff is not responsible for the condition of the property prior to the sale, at the time of confirmation of sale entry, or at the conclusion of the sale. All sales are "As Is" and are stipulated "Buyer Beware".

General Information

• In addition to being posted on our website, all Sheriff's Sales are advertised in either the Hamilton Journal and/ or the Middletown Journal on Sundays.
• All care is taken to ensure the accuracy of this information, but there is no guarantee that all information is complete or error free. The Butler County Sheriff's Office assumes no liability or erroneous information.
• Our computer software classifies sales as either "Tax Sale" or a "Non-Tax Sale".
• A "Tax Sale" is initiated by the County Treasurer to satisfy  delinquent real estate taxes. The minimum opening bid is the amount of taxes and associated costs at the time of the sale. Tax Sales require a down payment of taxes and costs. Details can be found at the Butler County RealAuction Website .
• A "Non-Tax Sale" is initiated by a creditor (such as a bank or other entity) who is trying to satisfy a judgment obtained against the debtor. The minimum opening bid is set at 2/3 of the appraised value of the property, unless otherwise directed by the court. On residential properties, Non-Tax sales require a minimum down payment of $2,000 ( if property is value less than or equal to $10,000), or $5,000 (if the property value is greater than $10,000 but less than $200,000), or $10,000 ( if the property value is greater than $200,000), unless the court or actions initiated under the former laws dictate otherwise.
• If a property does not receive any bid on its initial day of sale, the property is brought up again for auction two weeks later, unless otherwise directed by court order, prior law, or a different alternate sale date is stated in the sale advertisement.

Terms for Sheriff's Sales

• Down payments are required of all third-party (non-plaintiff) purchasers. See details here at the Butler County RealAuction Website .
• After our receipt of a Confirmation of Sale from the Plaintiff's attorney (which can take 30 days or more from the sale date), we notify purchasers that the balance of the purchase price is now due. Balance due is to be paid by certified or cashier's check, unless otherwise directed by the plaintiff or court, and specified in the sale advertisement. That balance, along with the conveyance and recording fees imposed by the County Auditor and County Recorder, are expected to be paid within 30 days from the date of our notification to the purchaser.

Planning to Bid On A Property At A Sale?

• PLEASE NOTE:    Even if you are the successful bidder on a property, you do not own the property until after the confirmation of sale is filed, you have made payment in full of the purchase price, and received your deed. Until such time, you do not have a right to enter the property, change locks, or force any occupant to leave the premises. After all conditions of ownership are satisfied, and if occupants remain in the property, there are specific legal steps you must make through the court system before you can take full possession.

More Information:

State law provides a foreclosure process by which lenders, other lien holders, and even the County Treasurer can force the sale of real estate property in order to satisfy judgements obtained against debtors who have failed to meet their financial obligations. The Sheriff's Office plays a substantial role in that process, and the Sheriff has delegated responsibility in those efforts to the Sheriff Sales Unit, consisting of Civil Administrative Specialist Bobbie Benton and Paralegal Sherry Buchheim. The unit is supervised by Sgt. Stephen Poff.

The Sheriff's Office involvement in the foreclosure process begins when a Common Pleas Court issues a formal "Order of Sale." If the foreclosure is not a result of non-payment of real estate taxes, the order typically directs that the property be appraised. An appraisal team, duty appointed and sworn by the Sheriff in accordance with the Ohio Revised Code, conducts the appraisal, and files of notice of their action and valuation back to the court. Foreclosure actions for non-payment of real estate taxes, and some general foreclosures subject to certain court orders, do not require appraisals.

Sale dates are then established, and state law requires that the property be advertised in a newspaper of general circulation within the county of a period of three (3) weeks prior to the scheduled auction sale date. All sales conducted by the Sheriff's Office are advertised in the Hamilton and/ or Middletown Journal on Sundays well in advance of the sale date. 

Prior to the advertised auction sale date/ time, the plaintiff ( the party who intimated the action) can withdraw the property from the sale for a variety of reasons. The most common reasons for a withdrawal include a delinquent debtor paying past due arrearages, modifying a loan, filing for bankruptcy, granting a deed-in-lieu of foreclosure, or the completion of a "short sale." Additionally, Ohio law provides specific circumstances and procedures under which a person subject to the foreclosure sale action might have a legal right to redeem their property even after a property is sold at auction.

Traffic Unit and START

The Sheriff’s Traffic Unit is an active member of the Serious Traffic Accident Reconstruction Team (S.T.A.R.T.) which is comprised of multiple law enforcement agencies within Butler County. They respond to serious injury and fatal crashes at the request of the reporting agency. 

The primary responsibility of the Traffic Unit is to investigate, collect data and evidence, and reconstruct serious injury and fatal crashes. Deputies assigned to the Traffic Unit are highly trained in Traffic Crash Investigations and Reconstruction. In 2022, the Traffic Unit upgraded their technology to aid them in their investigations. The Leica RTC 360 laser scanner and new drones will aid in the quality of the documentation, as well as investigation and courtroom presentation of these scenes. 

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