Gov. Bob Taft pleaded no contest Thursday to charges that he broke state ethics law by failing to report golf outings and other gifts and was fined the maximum $4,000. No jail time was ordered.

"You have a duty to set an example for all citizens," Franklin County Municipal Judge Mark Froehlich told Taft. "I am also ordering you to send an appropriate apology to the citizens of Ohio by e-mail to news media throughout the state."

"From the shores of Lake Erie to the banks of the Ohio River, I want them to know that you are sorry for what you have done."

A story from the AP says, Taft, a two-term Republican and great-grandson of a president, became the first Ohio governor charged with a crime, accused of failing to report 52 gifts worth nearly $6,000 that he received over four years.

Before Froehlich found him guilty of all four misdemeanor charges, Taft said that as governor he had expected all state workers to follow state ethics laws.

"In this instance I have failed to live up to the those high expectations," he said.

Defense attorney Williams Meeks said Taft has repaid people for the gifts, including meals and professional hockey tickets. Taft revealed the lapses but says they were accidental.

Click here to read more of this story from the AP.

The following gifts that Gov. Bob Taft left off ethics forms are among the examples prosecutors included in charges filed against him:

2001: Six undisclosed gifts including golf outings with political strategist Curt Steiner and Robert Massie, president of chemical services company CAS.

2002: Two undisclosed gifts including golf with coin dealer Thomas Noe, a Republican fundraiser under investigation for his handling of a $50 million investment of state money in rare coins.

2003: Eleven undisclosed gifts including dinner and Columbus Blue Jackets hockey tickets from Jerry Jurgeson, chief executive officer of Nationwide Insurance; a Senior Open gift set from Noe; and golf outings from the Longaberger basket company, various attorneys and friends.

2004: Five undisclosed gifts of dinner and golf outings from various people, including golf with the chemical company president.

Total value of undisclosed gifts: about $5,800.

Sources: Criminal charges, prosecutors.