Deborah Black

Ernest Smith’s testimony was a crime confession Brandon King asked him not to share

CLEVELAND, OH – Ernest Lamont Smith, 49, doesn’t know how much of a loser he portrayed himself as when he told jurors in his criminal trial that he made his $4500 a year council salary his full-time source of income for four years.  That’s $86.53 a week plus an open invitation to join Mayor Brandon King and Michael Smedley at the “all you can steal” buffet. Smith didn’t have a job when King appointed him along with Ricky Pitts, illegally, to serve on the city council in 2017.   To protect his investment in his illegal appointees, the racketeering-minded mayor threatened…

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Judge Dawson’s employee admits she signed an illegal secret rental lease with King’s baby’s momma

CLEVELAND, OH – One of indicted and suspended Mayor Brandon King’s last-minute alibis fell apart when his municipal court employee co-conspirator, Deborah Black, testified that she bypassed her director and the council to sign an illegal $14,184 rental contract with his King Management Group LLC. Black is the East Cleveland Municipal Court’s “victims advocate” for its domestic violence program. Black is not an elected or appointed officer of the municipal corporation with the authority to appropriate funds, negotiate or sign contracts.  Not even her employer, Judge William Dawson, has contract signing authority pursuant to Chapter 1901 of the Ohio Revised Code.…

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