Campaign finance records filed with the Ohio Secretary of State show Vivek Ramaswamy’s gubernatorial campaign paid $14,000 to its contracted security firm in the weeks after the firm’s employee — Ramaswamy’s personal family bodyguard — was arrested on federal fentanyl trafficking charges. The final payment came four days after the campaign publicly announced it was dropping the firm.
Justin Salsburey, 43, of Bellefontaine, was arrested Dec. 30, 2025 alongside his wife, Ruthann Rankin, 38, an Urbana City Schools teacher, on charges of conspiracy to distribute and possession with intent to distribute fentanyl and methamphetamine. According to federal court documents, the couple allegedly received 261 suspected drug parcels through the U.S. mail between August 2024 and December 2025. A search of their home on Dec. 30 turned up 264 grams of fentanyl pills, 938 grams of methamphetamine pills and 19 grams of MDMA, according to the criminal complaint.
Salsburey was employed by ARK Protection Group, a Wayne County-based private security firm contracted to protect the Ramaswamy family. “The private security firm that hired Salsburey, ARK Protection Group, immediately removed him from the Ramaswamy family’s security detail,” campaign spokesperson Connie Luck said in a statement at the time.
According to the Drug Enforcement Administration, one kilogram of fentanyl has the potential to kill 500,000 people. Applied to the 264 grams recovered at Salsburey’s home, that ratio yields an estimated potential death toll of approximately 132,000 — a figure the DEA itself uses as a benchmark for seized quantities of the drug.
Despite the arrest, the Ramaswamy campaign continued paying ARK Protection Group. According to Ohio Secretary of State campaign finance records, the campaign paid ARK $12,000 on Jan. 8, 2026 — 9 days after the arrest and the same day the story became widely reported. The campaign had paid ARK a total of approximately $61,971 since April 2025 prior to that payment.
On Jan. 16, 2026, Luck released a statement confirming the campaign would find new security: “Vivek and Apoorva are parents first and they put the security of their family first. In light of last week’s deeply troubling developments, the Ramaswamy family has begun the process of relieving Ark Protection Group of their responsibilities and transitioning to a new service provider.”
Four days later, on Jan. 20, the campaign made one additional payment to ARK — $2,000, according to the same campaign finance records filed with the state. The total paid to ARK Protection Group between April 2025 and Jan. 20, 2026 was $75,971, per the Ohio Secretary of State records.
ARK Protection Group founder Ron Gazboda issued a statement saying the firm regretted disappointing the Ramaswamy family. “Their safety and protection remain our utmost priority, and we are supporting them as they transition to a new security service provider,” Gazboda said.
According to Cleveland.com, ARK Protection Group closed on Jan. 21, 2026 — one day after the final payment. Owner Gazboda reportedly notified the Ohio Department of Public Safety in writing that he had “ceased providing security services” and was closing the company, following reports that two of ARK’s bodyguards were unregistered in Ohio and a third had been charged with federal drug trafficking.
Ramaswamy is the Republican nominee for Ohio governor and is expected to face Democrat Amy Acton in the November general election. He did not respond to a request for comment on the post-announcement payment.
Ohio recorded 4,452 unintentional drug overdose deaths in 2023, according to the Ohio Department of Health — a 9% decline from 4,915 in 2022. Fentanyl was involved in 78% of those deaths.
