MASON — A Butler County judge who was cited Friday for drinking beer in a parking lot before a high school football game denied Tuesday that he made a veiled threat to an officer.

        In an incident report filed with the Warren County Sheriff's Office, Deputy Brian Payne said he felt threatened and thought Common Pleas Judge Keith Spaeth was looking for preferential treatment when he asked the deputy, “How often do you deal with or are you in Butler County?”

Keith Spaeth

        Judge Spaeth, 40, of Fairfield, agreed Tuesday that he broke the law. He said he had one beer. However, he disputed allegations that he made any threats to the deputy or asked for special treatment.

        “I would never, ever threaten a police officer,” said Judge Spaeth, who has been on the common pleas bench since April 1999 and was a municipal judge in Fairfield for three years before that.

        “I told the gentleman I am a judge in Butler County and if you ever get over there you would know that. I said that people might be offended if they read in the paper that I got a ticket. That was the nature of the conversation.”

        Judge Spaeth and up to eight other tailgaters — including the judge's wife, Caroline — were charged Friday with a minor misdemeanor after deputies said they ignored a warning to quit drinking alcohol in the parking lot outside Galbreath Field off Kings Island Drive.

        The incident occurred about 7:10 p.m. preceding the kickoff between Moeller and St. Xavier high schools. The tailgaters were cited into Mason Municipal Court Oct. 17 on open-container violations. The charge carries a maximum $100 fine and no jail time.

        Judge Spaeth said there were several groups tailgating in the parking lot, but deputies never warned his group.

        “If he had warned our group, God knows, nobody in our group would have disobeyed a police officer,” Judge Spaeth said.

        The report said Judge Spaeth made the questionable remarks after Deputy Payne discovered he was a judge and called him a “liar” because he told officers he did not know drinking beer in a public place was illegal.

        “I understood this to be a type of threat that if I wrote him a citation that he would cause problems for me in Butler County. ... It was obvious to me the judge was expecting preferential treatment,” Deputy Payne said.

        The report also said the judge invited deputies to cite his wife instead of him because “he did not need it.”

        Judge Spaeth said he will pay the ticket.

        “I'm not going to defend it. I'm not proud I'm having this conversation,” he said.

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