Kenneth French, a Hyde Park homebuilder, said he just wants to invest in the neighborhood.
Somebody wants to have him arrested instead.
French has been accused of fraud for misrepresenting himself as an architect while presenting his plans to build a handful of homes along the Wasson Way bike trail.
The Cincinnati Planning Commission recently approved his plans for four homes on separate 6,000-square-foot lots across the street from the Kroger store in the Hyde Park Plaza.
But French said he was "shocked'' to find out before the commission voted Friday that a warrant had been issued for his arrest.
"I called the Hamilton County warrant hotline number and found out that, yes, there was an open warrant for my arrest,'' French said. "But I was never notified. I went down to the prosecutor's office with my attorney to find out why and couldn't get an answer.''
French said he was told authorities had no intention of arresting him under the misdemeanor warrant, which has been handed over to the city prosecutor's office.
City prosecutors didn't immediately respond to a request regarding the status of the case.
French said he couldn't believe that a warrant had been issued in the first place.
"If I had known this was going to happen six months ago, I wouldn't have fought to build here,'' said French, a Hyde Park resident.
Board had dinged him before
French has had a long-running feud with the Hyde Park Neighborhood Council, which opposed his original plan to build six houses on smaller lots in the same area along Wasson Way.
He said he thinks the council is simply opposed to his project under any circumstances and has attempted to defame his reputation to prevent his plans from going forward.
Representatives of the neighborhood council could not be reached for comment.
But this isn't the first time French has been accused of falsely presenting himself as an architect, according to the Ohio Architects Board, the state regulatory board for architects.
The board investigated French in 2011 for representing his firm, Architectural Interventions LLC, as an architectural firm even though the firm did not employ a licensed architect, according to public records requested by The Enquirer.
After questioning French, he agreed to change the name of his firm to its current name, Habitation Development Group LLC, and the case against him was closed, the records show.
But the board was contacted again with another complaint against French earlier this year accusing him of identifying himself as an architect on the Wasson Way project's website and in direct mailers to neighbors.
After further investigation, the board voted in September to refer the case to the Hamilton County Prosecutor's office, according to Shannon Himes, the board's executive director.
"It's rare when we see a case when somebody's been warned twice about violating the title act,'' Himes said, referring to an Ohio law that prohibits an individual from using the title "architect" without a first having obtained a license.
In his defense, French said he's never represented himself as a practicing architect, although he said he has a degree in architecture and has taught architecture classes.
"The way these people have gone after my character is just astonishing,'' French said, referring to the complaint against him.
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December 11, 2019 at 09:19AM
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Hyde Park homebuilder facing arrest for misrepresenting himself as an architect; calls case 'astonishing' - Cincinnati.com
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