REYNOLDSBURG, Ohio – The Ohio Department of Agriculture revoked the auctioneer’s license of Dennis D. Osburn of Vienna, W.Va., after finding an investigation showed he kept thousands of dollars from an auction that did not belong to him.
On Aug. 25, 2001, Osburn, doing business as Home Finders Realtors/Dennis D. Osburn Auctioneering, conducted a sale of the N. Eileen Hutcheson estate in Dexter City, Ohio. According to the department’s investigation, the auction netted $23,452.95, but the estate executor received only $10,475.95.
Osburn was supposed to remit the remaining $13,000 by Nov. 21, but failed to do so. He also failed to cooperate during the investigation, including failing to appear at the Ohio Department of Agriculture’s Reynoldsburg offices after being served with a subpoena.
“What Mr. Osburn did to the Hutcheson family is outright theft,” said Ohio Agriculture Director Fred L. Dailey. The state was able to provide the Hutcheson family $10,000 in compensation through the bond insurance that all auctioneers are required to have.
This is the first license revocation since the Ohio Department of Agriculture began administering the Ohio Auctioneer Licensing Program last October.
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