Although John was born in Philadelphia and grew up in Connecticut, he has made Ohio his home for the past eighteen years.  After graduating with honors from Avon High School in 1983, he went on to earn a degree in finance from Drexel University in 1988, where he also lettered in cross country and track and field. 

After a few years in Connecticut’s banking industry, John decided to attend law school at the University of Dayton School of Law, which at the time held the State of Ohio’s highest bar passage rate.  While in law school, John served as an associate editor on UD’s prestigious law review and met his future wife, Cindy Bilby, who is also an attorney employed as Sandusky County’s Department of Job and Family Services Director.  They married in 1999 and settled in Riley Township. 

After passing the bar examinations of Connecticut, New York and Ohio, and engaging in several years of general practice, John decided to devote his talents to prosecuting criminals.  From 1998-2009, John served as an assistant prosecutor, first for Seneca County, and then for Tom Stierwalt in the Sandusky County Prosecutor’s Office.  He has handled all types of serious felonies, including several rapes and murders.  In 2006, he appealed the reversal of a jury verdict by the court of appeals to the Ohio Supreme Court – and won. 

John is Judge of Clyde’s Sandusky County Court.  He was appointed to the position in march of 2009 by Governor Strickland, filling the seat vacated by Judge John P. Dewey upon his election to Common Pleas Court. 

In his spare time, John serves as the Chair of the Board of the Sandusky County Red Cross, President of the Sandusky County Council for Persons with Mental Retardation, and Secretary Treasurer of the Sandusky County Bar Association. John occasionally competes as a runner in local races and has completed 4 marathons since 2006.