Norwood’s former deputy auditor is facing felony charges after prosecutors say she billed the city for a conference trip she never took. Sharon Kambizi was indicted on Friday, November 13 on charges including theft in office and tampering with evidence, according to the Hamilton County Prosecutor’s Office, whose account was reported by The Cincinnati Enquirer. She no longer works for the city, officials told The Cincinnati Enquirer.
According to the Hamilton County Prosecutor’s Office, Kambizi submitted documentation to the city claiming expenses for a hotel stay, meals, and mileage associated with a conference that took place in Columbus in March, The Cincinnati Enquirer reported. She also received 32 hours of pay for attending, according to the prosecutor’s account reported by The Cincinnati Enquirer. An investigation by Norwood police found that she never attended the conference and that she submitted falsified documentation, officials told The Cincinnati Enquirer.
The total amount of the theft is believed to be nearly $2,500, according to the prosecutor’s office as reported by The Cincinnati Enquirer. The dollar figure is modest, but Ohio law treats theft in office seriously precisely because of the position involved: the charge is reserved for public officials and employees accused of stealing property or services connected to the public trust, and it carries consequences beyond the amount on the receipts — including, on conviction, disqualification from holding public office.
Kambizi was appointed in September 2025 as Norwood’s full-time deputy auditor, earning $90,000 a year, The Cincinnati Enquirer reported. The deputy auditor’s office sits at the center of a city’s money: it is the office that processes the very kind of expense documentation prosecutors say was falsified in this case. Kambizi did not respond to email and phone messages seeking comment, The Cincinnati Enquirer reported, and a Norwood city official declined to comment to The Cincinnati Enquirer.
Court records say Kambizi lives in Union Township, and her résumé includes service as controller for a housing authority in Xenia and as Dayton’s assistant controller, according to The Cincinnati Enquirer. That background matters to the story’s reach: the person indicted Friday is not a first-time municipal clerk but a finance professional who has held fiscal roles in at least three Ohio public bodies before and during her Norwood appointment.
Norwood is a small city of roughly 19,000 people entirely surrounded by Cincinnati, and its city hall runs on a small staff where a single fiscal office touches nearly every dollar. Cases like this one tend to trigger the same set of questions in a city that size: how the reimbursement was approved, what documentation was checked, whether any other expense claims from the same period have been reviewed, and whether the city’s internal controls changed after the police investigation began. None of those questions was answered in Friday’s reporting, and they are the questions Norwood residents are most likely to put to their council next.
What we know — and what we’re still waiting on
What is confirmed: an indictment was returned Friday, November 13, with charges including theft in office and tampering with evidence; the allegation, per the Hamilton County Prosecutor’s Office as reported by The Cincinnati Enquirer, is a falsified reimbursement claim of nearly $2,500 plus 32 hours of pay tied to a March conference in Columbus that Norwood police say she never attended; and she no longer works for the city. What is not yet public: the full list of counts in the indictment, her arraignment date, whether she has retained counsel, and whether the city or the Auditor of State intends any broader review of Norwood’s expense records. An indictment is an accusation, not a conviction, and Kambizi is presumed innocent unless proven guilty.
Hamilton County government has been in our coverage all day, including Sheriff Charmaine McGuffey’s public push for the governor to reject a looser gun bill, and the county’s other major accountability story this week, the records showing bus staff did not strap in a Cincinnati student who died in September. The Kambizi case is smaller in dollars than either, but it turns on the same theme: whether the systems meant to watch public money and public safety are actually watching.
What happens next is the court calendar. Kambizi’s case will move to arraignment in Hamilton County, where the charges will be read formally and a plea entered; the court schedule will set the first concrete date. NewsForce247 will follow the arraignment and any response from the city of Norwood, including whether officials announce changes to how expense claims are verified.