Rodney Creech was accused in a state investigation of climbing into bed with his own minor daughter while erect and wearing only his underwear. Ohio House Speaker Matt Huffman once called for his resignation. Nine months later, Huffman reinstated him, signed his endorsement letter, and Republican primary voters just handed him another term as their nominee.
State Rep. Rodney Creech (R-West Alexandria) won the Republican primary for Ohio House District 40 on May 5, defeating former state Rep. J. Todd Smith roughly nine months after a state criminal investigation into allegations he climbed into bed with his minor daughter while erect and wearing only his underwear.
What the Investigation Found
Creech took 6,712 votes to Smith’s 4,796, a 58.32% to 41.68% margin, according to unofficial results from the Ohio Secretary of State. Smith, a Farmersville pastor, had held the seat from 2018 until Creech unseated him in the 2020 primary.
The allegations against Creech date back to 2023. State investigative records describe the accuser only as “a minor female relative,” but Creech has since referred to her as his daughter in a public Facebook exchange responding to her allegations directly. She accused him of climbing into bed and under the covers with her while erect and wearing only his underwear, according to Bureau of Criminal Investigation documents obtained by the Statehouse News Bureau. Text messages showed her complaining that Creech had been rubbing her legs and grabbing her waist, and that she was “put to tears” by how uncomfortable he made her feel.
Creech told investigators he had gotten into bed with her in his underwear but denied any sexual element to the allegations, including that he’d touched her inappropriately more than once.
A Case That Never Got the Investigation It Should Have
The case was first reported to the Preble County Sheriff’s Department in July 2023, but no investigation was launched at that time. Both the Preble County sheriff, a personal friend of Creech’s, and the county prosecutor recused themselves from the matter due to their personal relationships with him. The state’s Bureau of Criminal Investigation didn’t actually begin its own investigation until November 2023, four months after the initial report.
Clark County Prosecutor Daniel Driscoll, brought in as a special prosecutor once BCI got involved, wrote in October 2024 that Creech’s “behavior during the time of the investigation was concerning and suspicious,” but concluded that “the evidence falls short of the threshold needed for prosecution.” No charges were ever filed. Creech has publicly called the allegations “demonstrably false.”
State Rep. Phil Plummer (R-Butler Township), one of Creech’s fellow Republican House members, told BCI investigators that comments Creech made about the allegations were “disgusting, uncalled for, and appalling,” according to records reported by the Dayton Daily News.
Stripped of Power, Then Quietly Restored
Ohio House Speaker Matt Huffman (R-Lima) stripped Creech of all four of his committee assignments, including his chairmanship of the House Agriculture Committee, in May 2025, and asked him to resign. Creech refused.
Then, in February 2026, Huffman reversed course entirely. He reinstated Creech to his committees and personally signed a letter requesting the Ohio Republican Party’s endorsement for his re-election. The party gave it to him.
Creech responded to his daughter’s allegations on his official Facebook page by labeling her statements “textbook parental alienation,” a framework that researchers, child welfare advocates, and the United Nations have identified as pseudoscience frequently deployed in family courts specifically to discredit children who report abuse.
The Bill He’s Cosponsoring Would Enshrine That Defense Into Law
Creech is a close legislative ally of state Rep. Gary Click (R-Vickery), who was also on Tuesday’s primary ballot in Ohio House District 88. The two are cosponsors of House Bill 249, the “Indecent Exposure Modernization Act,” which the Ohio House passed 63-30 in March.
During committee testimony on that bill, Planned Parenthood of Ohio’s Danielle Firsich directly called out the pairing: “You have a man who was just put back on his committees, who was accused of sexual misconduct with a minor, who is a sponsor on this bill.”
Click and Creech are also both tied to House Bill 693, the “Affirming Families First Act,” which would write a formal statutory definition of “parental alienation” into Ohio law, the exact same framework Creech invoked publicly to dismiss his own daughter’s allegations.
Both men were also quietly removed from Republican gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy’s official endorsements page in April. Click was restored within hours of TiffinOhio.net reporting on the change. Creech’s name was not restored. Both men had also appeared together on a March endorsement graphic from U.S. Senate candidate Jon Husted’s campaign, where Click serves as Sandusky County campaign chair.
What Happens Next
Creech now advances to the November 3 general election, where he’ll face Democratic candidate Timothy Hornbacker and Libertarian Joshua A. Umbaugh. If he wins in November, it will be his final term in the Ohio House under the state’s term limits, having first been elected in 2020 to what was then District 43.
A state lawmaker accused by his own daughter of climbing into bed with her while erect, whose own special prosecutor called his behavior “concerning and suspicious,” was stripped of his committee posts by his own party’s House Speaker, only to be quietly reinstated nine months later and handed the party’s formal endorsement. Republican primary voters in Ohio House District 40 just renominated him by a nearly 17-point margin.