Political Security and Vetting

Federal complaints filed in late December charge Justin Salsburey, a 43‑year‑old former bodyguard employed through ARK Protection Group to protect Ohio GOP gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy’s family, and his wife, schoolteacher Ruthann Rankin, with conspiring to traffic large quantities of counterfeit OxyContin and other pills via the U.S. mail to their Bellefontaine, Ohio home. Prosecutors allege 261 drug parcels were delivered between August 2024 and December 2025; Rankin has been removed from her Urbana teaching job, Salsburey is held in the Franklin County jail, and Ramaswamy’s campaign says he cleared multiple FBI and state background checks and was immediately removed from the security detail when the charges surfaced.