CLEVELAND, OHIO – I have published Ohio Criminal Rule 11 in its entirety at the bottom of this story so readers will fully-understand the relevancy behind the question I asked East Cleveland Municipal Court Judge William Dawson about the status of Ward 7 Councilman Basheer Sudan Jones’ case. Jones was arrested by two East Cleveland police officers on April 19, 2019.
Jones was charged with “improper handling of firearms in a motor vehicle.” The offense was a 4th degree felony violation of Section 2923. 16 of the Ohio Revised Code. The incident report East Cleveland’s cops generated doesn’t identify the reason for his “arrest without a warrant” or the basis for the search of the Cleveland politician’s vehicle. Jones was a suspect of something and they found what had been claimed was an improperly handled gun during a search of his vehicle.
Unsworn private attorneys Willa Hemmons and Heather McCollough appear to be cooperating with an East Cleveland police scheme to obstruct Judge William Dawson from dismissing and deciding the outcome of arrests.
Dawson wrote to EJBNEWSthat Jones was not brought before him as required of municipal law enforcement officers in Section 2935.05 of the Revised Code of Ohio.
“There is nothing in our court system which leads me to assume that it never resulted in a formal charge by the prosecutor’s office,” Dawson wrote. “I am saying he was never arraigned before me for those charges.”
Section 2935.05 of the Revised Code of Ohio exists under the heading, “Filing affidavit where arrest without warrant.” The statute makes reference to another statute within it, R.C. 2935.03, that describes every category of Ohio law enforcement officer authorized to arrest and / or pursue without a warrant. R.C. 2935.05 gave the individuals discharging law enforcement officer duties pursuant to R.C. 737.11 very specific “mandatory” instructions to follow during every arrest.
Basheer Jones was arrested by East Cleveland “cops” John E. Hartman and Michael Woodside, and someone other than Judge William Dawson called themselves “dismissing” the case.
“When a person named in section2935.03 of the Revised Code has arrested a person without a warrant, he shall, without unnecessary delay, take the person arrested before a court or magistrate having jurisdiction of the offense, and shall file or cause to be filed an affidavit describing the offense for which the person was arrested. Such affidavit shall be filed either with the court or magistrate, or with the prosecuting attorney or other attorney charged by law with prosecution of crimes before such court or magistrate and if filed with such attorney he shall forthwith file with such court or magistrate a complaint, based on such affidavit.”
East Cleveland Councilwoman Juanita Gowdy has confirmed to EJBNEWS that police under twice-indicted felon and law enforcement officer impersonator Scott Gardner’s management “dismissed” the gun charges against Jones. That’s the information she acquired from self-employed attorney Heather McCollough discharging the duties of a prosecuting attorney without an oath of office; and handling undisclosed private cases on the side.
Gowdy has promised to fire McCollough and attorney Willa Hemmons as East Cleveland’s next mayor. She’s campaigning to replace Richmond Heights resident Brandon King.
Council Vice President Juanita Gowdy confirmed that Cleveland councilman Basheer Jones’ arrest was “dismissed” by the police and not at the request of the prosecutor to Judge William Dawson. Judge Dawson expressed concern about the violation of R.C. 2035.05 to EJBNEWS.
Jones was charged, apparently only by the police and not the city’s prosecutor or judge, with “improper handling of firearms in a motor vehicle.” The offense was a 4th degree felony violation of Section 2923. 16 of the Ohio Revised Code.
The incident report East Cleveland’s cops generated doesn’t identify the reason for the arrest or the basis for the search of the Cleveland politician’s vehicle. Jones was a suspect of something and they found what cops claimed was the improperly handled gun he had a right to possess and transport.
The record of Jones’ April 19, 2019 arrest appears to have still been entered in the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s National Crime Information Center (NCIC) criminal records history database Ohio police can access through the Law Enforcement Automated Data Systems (LEADS) portal. That’s where Lake County Sheriff’s deputies found Jones arrest records when they denied his request for a concealed carry permit on December 26, 2019.
A warrantless arrest by a law enforcement officer or private citizen triggers 4th Amendment rights under the Constitution of the United States of America that are implemented into practice through Ohio Criminal Rule 11 and other criminal and civil rules of procedure. The only way to adjudicate an arrest is in an open court before a judge, magistrate or jury. Any dismissal Jones sought or was given should have been upon request of the prosecuting attorney – either McCollough or Hemmons – before Dawson.
State laws require judges to strip cops who are indicted for felonies and plead to misdemeanors of their OPOTA certifications. They’re done as a cop forever in Ohio. Scott Gardner’s been indicted and convicted twice for felonies in separate counties between 2013 and 2014; and he hasn’t stopped working. He’s even submitted fraudulent documents to OPOTA to so he doesn’t have to stop stealing from East Cleveland taxpayers and running the police department like an organized crime gang with Larry McDonald.
What’s pathetic is Jones is campaigning for mayor of Cleveland to hold office as the city’s chief law enforcement officer; and he’s accepting side deals to avoid the embarassment of an arrest instead of fighting for constitutional rights East Cleveland cops violated. What’s clear is his constitutional rights were violated with the arrest and he was too cowardly to fight for them.
If he won’t fight for his own rights he won’t fight for anyone else’s if given management of the police department and city prosecutor’s office. There’s no police reform legislation bearing his name as a councilman.
East Cleveland police under King’s twice-convicted police chief, Gardner, and the crew of non-Ohio Peace Officer Training Academy certified organized criminals impersonating law enforcement officers they manage, have been accused of making arrests go away in exchange for special favors.
They’ve had their child. Sergeant Dominique King is not pregnant at the time. But imagine filing a complaint against Larry McDonald with internal affairs and it goes to his baby mama.
Hemmons cut a side “cash for dismissal of charges” deal with the five Cleveland police supervisors charged with dereliction of duty in the Timothy Russell and Malissa Williams pursuit and slaughter inside East Cleveland. Larry McDonald offered to get charges dismissed against a woman he wanted to date; and in exchange for dinner.
Kenneth DiSalvo changed his name to Kenneth Lundy after he resigned from the Hamilton County Sheriff’s department. In the other county he told a jailed female American citizen he’d give her food in exchange for showing him her breasts. He now works for King as a commander.
It’s been alleged that arrest records are disappearing for cash, car titles, drugs and sex. A citizen complaining to East Cleveland’s internal affairs officer about McDonald gets “sergeant” Dominique King with whom he has a child.
The prosecutor’s office did not review or rule on McDonald’s shooting of Vincent Belmonte in the back of the head after he snatched off his bodycam. A “committee” of law enforcement officer impersonators cleared him of Belmonte’s shooting. There are no controls over these law enforcement officer impersonating criminals.
Judge Dawson and the council must investigate what are clearly criminal acts surrounding warrantless arrests that individuals wearing law enforcement uniforms and carrying weapons are engaging in on East Cleveland streets. Jones’ arrest coupled with Dawson’s questions about what happened to it offers the best evidence for an investigation’s launching point into what transpired between him and the police.
Who intervened on his behalf? What was the favor or deal?
Read Criminal Rule 11 below.
Rule 11 – Pleas, Rights Upon Plea(A) Pleas. A defendant may plead not guilty, not guilty by reason of insanity, guilty or, with the consent of the court, no contest. A plea of not guilty by reason of insanity shall be made in writing by either the defendant or the defendant’s attorney. All other pleas may be made orally. The pleas of not guilty and not guilty by reason of insanity may be joined. If a defendant refuses to plead, the court shall enter a plea of not guilty on behalf of the defendant.(B) Effect of guilty or no contest pleas. With reference to the offense or offenses to which the plea is entered:(1) The plea of guilty is a complete admission of the defendant’s guilt.(2) The plea of no contest is not an admission of defendant’s guilt, but is an admission of the truth of the facts alleged in the indictment, information, or complaint, and the plea or admission shall not be used against the defendant in any subsequent civil or criminal proceeding.(3) When a plea of guilty or no contest is accepted pursuant to this rule, the court, except as provided in divisions (C)(3) and (4) of this rule, shall proceed with sentencing under Crim.R. 32.(C) Pleas of guilty and no contest in felony cases.(1) Where in a felony case the defendant is unrepresented by counsel the court shall not accept a plea of guilty or no contest unless the defendant, after being readvised that he or she has the right to be represented by retained counsel, or pursuant to Crim.R. 44 by appointed counsel, waives this right.(2) In felony cases the court may refuse to accept a plea of guilty or a plea of no contest, and shall not accept a plea of guilty or no contest without first addressing the defendant personally and doing all of the following:(a) Determining that the defendant is making the plea voluntarily, with understanding of the nature of the charges and of the maximum penalty involved, and if applicable, that the defendant is not eligible for probation or for the imposition of community control sanctions at the sentencing hearing.(b) Informing the defendant of and determining that the defendant understands the effect of the plea of guilty or no contest, and that the court, upon acceptance of the plea, may proceed with judgment and sentence.(c) Informing the defendant and determining that the defendant understands that by the plea the defendant is waiving the rights to jury trial, to confront witnesses against him or her, to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in the defendant’s favor, and to require the state to prove the defendant’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt at a trial at which the defendant cannot be compelled to testify against himself or herself.(3) With respect to aggravated murder committed on and after January 1, 1974, the defendant shall plead separately to the charge and to each specification, if any. A plea of guilty or no contest to the charge waives the defendant’s right to a jury trial, and before accepting a plea of guilty or no contest the court shall so advise the defendant and determine that the defendant understands the consequences of the plea.
If the indictment contains no specification, and a plea of guilty or no contest to the charge is accepted, the court shall impose the sentence provided by law.
If the indictment contains one or more specifications, and a plea of guilty or no contest to the charge is accepted, the court may dismiss the specifications and impose sentence accordingly, in the interests of justice.
If the indictment contains one or more specifications that are not dismissed upon acceptance of a plea of guilty or no contest to the charge, or if pleas of guilty or no contest to both the charge and one or more specifications are accepted, a court composed of three judges shall:
(a) determine whether the offense was aggravated murder or a lesser offense; and (b) if the offense is determined to have been a lesser offense, impose sentence accordingly; or (c) if the offense is determined to have been aggravated murder, proceed as provided by law to determine the presence or absence of the specified aggravating circumstances and of mitigating circumstances, and impose sentence accordingly.(4) With respect to all other cases the court need not take testimony upon a plea of guilty or no contest.(D) Misdemeanor cases involving serious offenses. In misdemeanor cases involving serious offenses the court may refuse to accept a plea of guilty or no contest, and shall not accept such plea without first addressing the defendant personally and informing the defendant of the effect of the pleas of guilty, no contest, and not guilty and determining that the defendant is making the plea voluntarily. Where the defendant is unrepresented by counsel the court shall not accept a plea of guilty or no contest unless the defendant, after being readvised that he or she has the right to be represented by retained counsel, or pursuant to Crim.R. 44 by appointed counsel, waives this right.(E) Misdemeanor cases involving petty offenses. In misdemeanor cases involving petty offenses the court may refuse to accept a plea of guilty or no contest, and shall not accept such pleas without first informing the defendant of the effect of the plea of guilty, no contest, and not guilty.
The counsel provisions of Crim.R. 44(B) and (C) apply to division (E) of this rule.
(F)Negotiated plea cases. When a negotiated plea of guilty or no contest to one or more offenses charged or to one or more other or lesser offenses is offered, the underlying agreement upon which the plea is based shall be stated on the record in open court. To the extent required by Article I, Section 10a of the Ohio Constitution or by the Revised Code, before accepting the plea, the trial court shall allow an alleged victim of the crime to raise any objection to the terms of the plea agreement.(G) Refusal of court to accept plea. If the court refuses to accept a plea of guilty or no contest, the court shall enter a plea of not guilty on behalf of the defendant. In such cases neither plea shall be admissible in evidence nor be the subject of comment by the prosecuting attorney or court.(H) Defense of insanity. The defense of not guilty by reason of insanity must be pleaded at the time of arraignment, except that the court for good cause shown shall permit such a plea to be entered at any time before trial.
CLEVELAND, OH – When East Cleveland police arrested Ward 7 councilman Basheer Jones on April 19, 2019 they sought to charge him with “improper handling of firearms in a motor vehicle.” The offense was a 4th degree felony violation of Section 2923. 16 of the Ohio Revised Code. The incident report East Cleveland’s cops generated doesn’t identify the reason for the arrest or the basis for the search of the Cleveland politician’s vehicle. Jones was a suspect of something and they found the improperly handled gun.
Had Jones investigated the Ohio Peace Officer Training Academy credentials of the cops who stopped him and searched his vehicle he would have learned they were law enforcement officer impersonators. A further investigation would have revealed neither of the private attorneys discharging the duties of a prosecuting attorney were administered oaths of office; and had no legal authority to represent the city or “state” against him in any court.
Judge Willliam Dawson was obstructed by seedy East Cleveland officials from journalizing the official acts that occurred with Basheer Jones’ 2019 gun arrest by the city’s police.
Pursuant to Section 2938. 13 of the Ohio Revised Code Jones and every other criminal defendant has the right to ask Judge William Dawson not to advance any prosecution brought forth by admittedly private attorneys Willa Hemmons or Heather McCullough. Each is discharging the duties of public offices they have usurped without oaths of office filed with the clerk of council pursuant to Section 705.28 of Ohio’s revised code.
Had he learned anything about the duties of a councilman while representing Cleveland’s Ward 7 Jones could have used what should have been a competent knowledge of laws to challenge his arrest and the charges against him. The statute that disqualifies Hemmons and McCullough as private attorneys operating in East Cleveland municipal court is clear.
“In any case prosecuted for violation of a municipal ordinance the village solicitor or city director of law, and for a statute, he or the prosecuting attorney, shall present the case for the municipal corporation and the state respectively, but either may delegate the responsibility to some other attorney in a proper case, or, if the defendant be unrepresented by counsel may with leave of court, withdraw from the case. But the magistrate or judge shall not permit prosecution of any criminal case by private attorneyemployed or retained by a complaining witness.”
Within 48 hours after his probable cause-less arrest the Sixth Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America required King to ensure that qualified and oath sworn prosecutors to have police deliver Jones before East Cleveland Municipal Court Judge William Dawson for an arraignment and a bond hearing. It is before an oath sworn Judge Dawson that oath sworn prosecutors could have expressed their disagreement with the requested charges against Jones and sought a dismissal to be entered into the record. Dawson would have had the option of dismissing the charges against Jones with or without prejudice. Jones would have had the right to ask that charges be brought against the police for the unlawful acts they committed against him.
Basheer Jones was denied a conceal carry permit by Lake County’s sheriff.
Between the police and the prosecutor’s office under Richmond Heights resident Mayor Brandon King’s control the case against Jones simply disappeared although not really. The record of Jones’ April 19, 2019 arrest appears to have still been entered in the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s National Crime Information Center (NCIC) criminal records history database Ohio police can access through the Law Enforcement Automated Data Systems (LEADS) portal. That’s where Lake County Sheriff’s deputies found Jones arrest records when they denied his request for a concealed carry permit on December 26, 2019.
But Dawson wrote to EJBNEWSthat Jones was not brought before him. He, too, looked into the arrest to learn what had happened.
“There is nothing in our court system which leads me to assume that it never resulted in a former charge by the prosecutors office,” Dawson wrote. “I am saying he was never arraigned before me for those charges.”
EJBNEWS sought to learn if East Cleveland police had bypassed the city prosecutor and delivered Jones to Cuyahoga County prosecuting attorney Michael O’Malley for a direct indictment. Like the East Cleveland municipal court the county court of common pleas has no record of Jones’ arrest turning into an arraignment with formal charges. Between the two courts with the authority to have arraigned Jones his criminal records history is clean.
None of the police officers who signed Basheer Jones incident report were certified by OPOTA. Domonique King is the internal affairs officer and cop commander Larry McDonald’s “baby mama.”
Jones just relocated to Cleveland from Cleveland Heights in December 2020 and his April 2019 East Cleveland gun arrest was introduced to the public by EJBNEWS for inclusion in the discussion about his campaign for mayor of Cleveland and whether or not he’s competent enough to discharge the duties of a municipal chief law enforcement officer. Why Jones was not arraigned has become a local political mystery.
The Cleveland politician’s Sixth Amendment or “speedy trial” rights and opportunity to face his accusers have long ago been violated by East Cleveland officials who obstructed the statutory and constitutional process for adjudicating criminal charges. So on its face the arrest should be dismissed through East Cleveland’s municipal court records so the information on the FBI’s NCIC database can be updated to reflect that some adjudication occurred.
Without an order from Judge Dawson the April 19, 2019 arrest record remains associated with Jones’ name on the FBI’s NCIC criminal records history database and will continue to affect his rights as a citizen of the United States of America. Had Judge Dawson journalized a dismissal of the case or accepted dropped charges from the prosecuting attorney Jones’ conceal carry permit wouldn’t have been denied in December 8 months after his arrest.
East Cleveland’s prosecutors and cops are notorious for cutting side deals with criminal defendants to keep cases from going to court. Without oaths of office on file with the Clerk of Council neither private attorneys Willa Hemmons nor Heather McCullough are authorized to discharge the duties of a municipal prosecutor pursuant to Section 705.28 of the Ohio Revised Code. Somehow between the police department and the prosecutor’s office charges against Basheer Jones never made it to arraignment.
What Jones would have been potentially left with was the misdemeanor offense of giving false information to the police and failing to update his drivers license. Jones and his family have not ever resided at 1383 E. 94th Street which is the address police recorded from his drivers license.
As a 2017 candidate for Cleveland city council Jones and his family lived at 1670 Belvoir Road in South Euclid. From South Euclid the Jones’ relocated to 3936 Orchard Avenue in Cleveland Heights while he continued to serve unlawfully on Cleveland city council and claiming 1383 E. 94th Street as his residential address. Jones purchased a home on E. 66th Street in Cleveland last March 2020. His family was relocated from Cleveland Heights to their Cleveland home in December 2020 after it was renovated.
CLEVELAND, OH – Council Vice President and East Cleveland Sunrisepublisher Juanita Gowdy is counting on the truth that the voters of East Cleveland know more than a few things about Mayor Brandon King that disgusts them as she challenges him for the “chief law enforcement officer”s job he holds illegally as a Richmond Heights resident. Elected officials under Ohio laws must be residents of the community they’re elected to serve.
For the past nearly two years, Gowdy and East Cleveland Sunrise co-publisher Justyn Anderson have been distributing their 5000 circulation newspaper to every household, door-to-door, providing information-starved voters and residents with details about the “dirty dealings” taking place inside the King administration. Gowdy and Anderson told EJBNEWS they got the idea to spread regular doses of the truth from the East Cleveland Challengerand the East Cleveland Tattler.
Brandon King created a proclamation in August claiming he had the authority to suspend the U.S. Constitution, federal laws, Ohio’s constitution, state laws, East Cleveland’s charter and ordinances. He must have been snorting some good shit when he signed it. Crazed and communist-inspired thinking like this is the reason East Cleveland voters should remove this two bit dictator from Richmond Heights out of city hall.
King and his friends were and are robbing the city blind while making up lies to deceive residents who thought they could trust him, Gowdy said. “We had to do something when his administration started losing $50 million lawsuits we know voters will never be able to pay.”
Gowdy said residents now know King doesn’t live in the city and lied about his residency when he ran for council and then mayor. King doesn’t live at 1735 Elsinore Road in a rowhouse apartment his brother resides in that’s been raided twice for drugs.
1735 Elsinore is where several King brothers fraudulently claim to live in Sheldon King’s apartment so they can vote in the city in violation of election laws, according to Cecil King. Sheldon King is the brother convicted for drug dealing and child endangering from inside the apartment the mayor’s voting address claims adult King men with families share. The mayor and his brothers must not have been at the apartment and left Sheldon to take the hit for the King organized crime family during the raids.
Residents of Elsinore Road know Richmond Heights resident Brandon King does not at 1735 with his adult brother; and neither do the other adult King men voting illegally from Sheldon King’s address.
Gowdy said residents now know King is a hot-tempered thief who’s employees like Michael Smedley and Melran Leach, along with ex-mayor Gary Norton, are either being criminally-investigated or named in federal indictments for crimes in public office. Numerous residents know King received a subpoena from the Ohio Ethics Commission for records associated with his selling office supplies to city hall as part of an ongoing criminal investigation.
Gowdy said King’s chief of police, Scott Gardner, was twice-convicted for felonies he pleaded down to misdemeanors that makes him ineligible to be certified as a law enforcement officer, according to section 737.02(2)(a) of the Revised Code of Ohio. Gardner was indicted back to back by two prosecutors between Cuyahoga and Medina county in 2013 and 2014.
Gowdy said King would have made himself look like a hero to East Cleveland residents had he fired him after Norton failed to do so. The heading for the law is “Felony conviction precludes or terminates employment.”
(2)(a) The director of public safety shall terminate the employment of a chief of police, member of the police department, or auxiliary police officer who does either of the following: (i) Pleads guilty to a felony; (ii) Pleads guilty to a misdemeanor pursuant to a negotiated plea agreement as provided in division (D) of section 2929.43 of the Revised Code in which the chief of police, member of the police department, or auxiliary police officer agrees to surrender the certificate awarded to the chief of police, member of the police department, or auxiliary police officer under section 109.77 of the Revised Code.
Gowdy told EJBNEWS that had King fired Gardner like a state general law requires, so many residents the police the unfit “chief” stations and transfers have been pursuing and shooting to death might still be alive or uninjured. The members of the city’s Civil Service Commission resigned in February after not operating lawfully since 2016. None of the police hired or promoted have been appointed through Civil Service testing. That list includes Larry McDonald who removed his bodycam before shooting Vincent Belmonte in the back of the head.
Back shooting Larry “Pacman” McDonald was laid-off by this writer as East Cleveland’s mayor and twice-convicted Scott Gardner was twice-suspended by me as I was building a case to fire him in 2009. Cuyahoga County prosecuting attorney Michael O’Malley indicted him on felony tax charges and so did Medina county’s back-to-back between 2013 and 2014. After pleading to two misdemeanor Gardner should never have been allowed to remain a police officer by Gary Norton or Brandon King under Ohio law. McDonald shot Vincent Belmonte in the back of the head after he removed his bodycam.
The state Civil Service Commission is investigating the Civil Service law violations and King has been warned to take the investigation seriously. Gowdy said Gardner will have no future with East Cleveland as his two convictions mean the private security company owner should have long ago been fired.
Gowdy said once elected she’s going to follow the model the Brewer administration implemented by making public employee accountability and an obedience to federal, state and local laws a mandate. Without all the police pursuits, violence towards citizens and police killings, Gowdy said East Cleveland residents remember how crime in every category was reduced by 40 to 70 percent between January 1, 2006 through December 31, 2009.
During an interview, Gowdy told EJBNEWS how she disagrees with demolishing homes that could be renovated with the same money. Instead of demolishing 125 homes like King is planning as a way to direct more no-bid contracts to his friends, she wants them renovated and sold at cost.
“If it costs $25,000 to renovate a home in our landbank we can sell it for $25,000 and reinvest the money into another property and resell it at cost … too,” Gowdy said. “The “D” in “HUD” is “Development” and not “Demolition.” She wants resident homeowners to have access to HUD dollars to help with their repairs.
Gowdy said she disagreed very strongly with former Mayor Gary Norton’s decision to aid Cleveland Clinic’s plan to close Huron Hospital in 2011; and to be paid $8 million in exchange for losing the income taxes that came from its 1100 workers. 300 of the hospital’s workers were residents and the closing emptied the apartment buildings surrounding the hospital for workers who could walk next door or across the street to work.
Council has not authorized funding for a job called “chief of staff” that Michael Smedley claims to hold. He’ll be fired an investigated by a new mayor and administration. He might also face criminal prosecution for the crimes he’s committed in office. Smedley was named in Kenneth Tyson’s indictment.
Gowdy blasted Norton for taking the $8 million and spending it as he pleased. Norton didn’t spend a dime of the money for new service vehicles to plow or repave and clean the city’s streets and parks; or for new fire safety equipment. Norton spent nothing for tree trimming equipment in a city full of trees.
Gowdy wants council and the residents once she’s mayor to support a small property tax to build a free fully-equipped emergency room for residents who would pay only $1 a year for every $1000 in property value. $25 a year on a $25,000 home.
With the $25 million the city is getting from the federal government, Gowdy wants the current council and a new one to use a portion of the money to build the emergency room and the small tax would fund it. The emergency room would be free to residents with no health care. Whatever Medicare, Medicaid or a person’s health care coverage paid would cover the additional costs. Residents would have no “out of pocket” costs. Non-residents would be required to pay.
“We have to consider putting physicians instead of untrained EMS workers on our ambulances. We have residents being shot and beaten; or involved in car crashes that causes serious injuries,” Gowdy said. “The nearest emergency room is University Hospitals and more of our people are dying after Huron Hospital and its gunshot wound trauma center closed. Free emergency room care would add an extremely affordable value to being an East Cleveland resident and increase the desire for people to live in our city.”
Not a single public safety worker administered first aid to Vincent Belmonte when Larry McDonald shot him in the back of the head. They only checked his pulse as his breathing and heartbeat slowed to a standstill. Juanita Gowdy believes physicians can be afforded to ride EMS squads instead of poorly-trained EMS workers.
Gowdy also wants a portion of the money to be spent on upgrading all the equipment in the city’s service department that Norton did not upgrade with the $8 million in Huron Hospital closing dollars he wasted. She wants the baseball diamonds improved in the parks as well as the tennis courts.
“Our residents lived a much better suburban lifestyle with greater health amenities before criminals took over our government,” she said.
During her first year on city council, after winning in 2019, Gowdy has been investigating problems with King’s management of the municipal workforce as well as his contracting and compliances problems. She’s found that King has not been administering oaths of office to employees and delivering the oaths to the council clerk.
This has been a problem issue, particularly, for the city’s law department King lets private attorney Willa Hemmons leads. Neither attorney has obtained the approval of or reported to council before they initiated or responded to litigation as required by Ohio laws. Hemmons is a resident of Beachwood who has no legal authority to discharge the law director’s duties as a private contract attorney. Gowdy said the ate Almeta Johnson was the last person qualified under Ohio law to serve as the director of law.
Brandon King and Mansell Baker voted with Thomas Wheeler to let George Michael Riley stockpile over 1000 Cuyahoga County landbank homes behind houses lived in by Harry Drummond and the late Barbara Garner in 2014. This deadly construction and demolition debris should have been taken to a dump in Minerva outside Canton because they contained asbestos. The place caught on fire often and spewed deadly, immune weaking toxins in the air. Ms. Garner, a non-smoker, died of lung cancer with this filth in her backyard thanks to Richmond Heights resident Brandon King when he served, illegally, on East Cleveland city council as its vice president.
Gowdy said Hemmons and Heather McCullough can expect to be fired. So can Michael Smedley. Police officers without certifications and still discharging a law enforcement officers duties can expect to be held fully-accountable within laws.
“We don’t need a high speed pursuit policy and the police chief doesn’t get to write a police department’s rules or regulations under Ohio law,” Gowdy said. “We already have a state law that instructs them when they can and cannot pursue or cross the borders of another city. The Ohio Revised Code gives the Director of Public Safety rule writing authority for city police. Rules written by the police chief is evidence of a police chief exceeding the authority of their public employment.”
Gowdy said Ohio’s general assembly has written a warrantless pursuit “general law” and she just got council to approve an ordinance that requires the director of law, prosecuting attorney and judge to use R.C. 2935.03 in evaluating every pursuit. Ord. No. 525.03 is named the Tamia Chappman Act.”
The local law Gowdy sponsored makes it a requirement for the law department to ensure every police officer bringing charges against a citizen is authorized by law to do so by delivering the oath and training records to every person they arrest. If they pursue outside the law the pursuing “law enforcement officer impersonators” will be responsible for their own legal representation and damages.
Richmond Heights resident Brandon King has been repeatedly warned by state officials to close East Cleveland’s filthy jail. Council vice president wants it either closed or money used to repair it … immediately.
They must possess an oath of office that’s filed in the clerk of council’s office pursuant to R.C. 705.28; in addition to maintaining current and approved Ohio Peace Officer Training Academy credentials as required of R.C. 109.81.
They’ve also got to operate the equipment in police cars in obedience with federal and state criminal laws; and not violate R.C. 2913.04 or the FBI’s NCIC 2000 Manual to access the Mobile Display Units. All this information is required to be delivered to citizens in criminal proceedings to ensure the city isn’t later sued for a civil rights violation. Gowdy is opposed to police using automatic license plate readers that council has not authorized them to buy or use through an ordinance or resolution.
“The taxpayers of East Cleveland are not going to pay for their unlawful behavior and violations of civil rights,” Gowdy said.
The twice-convicted Gardner exceeded the authority of the police chief when he wrote an opinion to council claiming the ordinance was unconstitutional; and that he wasn’t going to enforce it. Gowdy said the ordinance authorizes residents to file criminal complaints against the law enforcement officer who violates it; and requires Judge William Dawson and the prosecutor to enforce it. She said Gardner has no legal opinion-writing authority and intends to deal with his duty-exceeding criminal misconduct once elected as the city’s chief law enforcement officer.
Council Vice President Juanita Gowdy sponsored and introduced Ord. No. 525.03 to deal with the warrantless pursuits that took the lives of Tamia Chapmann, Timothy Russell and Malissa Williams. As mayor Gowdy has promised to deliver the message to the county’s mayors that there police officers will be arrested if they enter East Cleveland’s borders in violation of R.C. 2935.03.
“I’m not worried about Scott Gardner,” the East Cleveland Sunrise publisher told EJBNEWS. “East Cleveland’s policing will be reformed. The slave-catching mindset of the city’s police officers will not be tolerated in 2022.”
East Cleveland’s charter is partisan. Since no Republicans or third party candidates have competed in the last three elections the Democrat who wins the primary heads, alone, to the November general election. Voters will have once chance during the primary to elect the candidate of their choice.
[DISCLOSURE: This writer is the former Mayor of East Cleveland, Ohio and I have been aiding Council Vice President Juanita Gowdy and co-East Cleveland Sunrise publisher Justyn Anderson for the past three years in understanding the complexities of municipal management from a statutory perspective.]
CLEVELAND, OH – They should have seen the writing on the wall and knew this day was coming. Willa Hemmons and Heather McCollough have been operating like rogue public officials with no oaths of office appeasing Richmond Heights resident Brandon King instead of advising the officers of the municipal corporation of East Cleveland to discharge only their official duties.
The weapons Hemmons and McCollough formed against Councilwoman Juanita Gowdy have failed. Both were advised by the Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Association that a complaint has been filed against them. McCollough should have learned Proverbs 2:20. “So you will walk in the way of good men And keep to the paths of the righteous.” Oops there it is!
A majority of three members of East Cleveland city council (Gowdy, Korean Stevenson, Nathaniel Martin) filed a complaint against the derelict duo and want their law licenses suspended. For the good of the public interest the suspensions should be permanent. Neither is fit to practice law.
Instead of following the law both Willa Hemmons and Heather McCullough followed Richmond Heights resident Brandon King and the money he was paying them to avoid discharging the official duties of the public offices they usurped.
Hemmons was contracted in January 2014 to discharge the duties of a “municipal director of law” pursuant to the mandates of the Revised Code of Ohio. Law directors for municipal corporations are required to be electors. She resides in Beachwood and not East Cleveland.
Law directors are also required to be administered oaths of office, post bonds and advise every officer and employee to discharge only the duties of public offices as they are authorized by Ohio’s general laws and its Constitution. Pursuant to Section 733.57 of the Revised Code of Ohio, it was Hemmons and McCullough’s duties to ensure that even the no-bid contractors King’s been awarding contracts perform every public duty associated with the receipt of it.
Judge William Dawson since 2014 has allowed a private attorney to prosecute cases in the city’s municipal court in violation of R.C. 2938.13 despite knowing that Willa Hemmons was not administered an oath of office to discharge the duties of a director of law. 10 days after this contract was signed Hemmons should have resigned and advised council to declare the public office she had vacated … forfeited.
They don’t participate in schemes like McCollough to remove a member of council through recall by notarizing petitions Che Gadison submitted to her in resident Kelly Bright’s name. They don’t join council meetings like Hemmons did and declare the the mayor can preside over it for the council president; and that she is dually-authorized to serve as his appointed clerk of the council.
They don’t present charges against American citizens that have been filed against them by private individuals impersonating law enforcement officers with no oaths, no civil service testing and no Ohio Peace Officer Training Academy credentials. Full-time prosecuting attorneys like McCullough don’t represent private criminal cases, secretly, on the side. The Supreme Court of Ohio told EJBNEWS it was McCullough’s duty to update her status to show she was working as a government prosecutor instead of as a private lawyer.
The sham council meeting Richmond Heights resident Brandon King presided over in place of the president of council was a big “no no” for a judge. So was the $17,000 bank robbery. Fat meat is greasy. When advised by your elders to “get right” … “get right.” CANON 4: A Judge Shall Avoid Impropriety and the Appearance of Impropriety in all of the Judge’s Activities (A) Positions of Influence. A judge shall not allow family, social, political, or other relationships to influence the judge’s judicial conduct or judgment. A judge shall not lend the prestige of judicial office to advance the private interests of the judge or others and shall not convey or permit others to convey the impression that they are in a special position to influence the judge. A judge shall not testify voluntarily as a character witness. (C) Appearances and Appointments. (1) A judge shall not appear at a public hearing before or otherwise consult with an executive or legislative body or official except on matters concerning the law, the legal system, or the administration of justice or except when acting pro se in a matter involving the judge or the judge’s interests.
Hemmons described U.S. District Court Judge James Gwin as “mad” when he admonished her for representing ex-East Cleveland employees Ralph Spotts and David Hicks instead of protecting and indemnifying the city from their misconduct in the $50 million civil complaint she lost. It will be interesting to see her flippant responses to the Certified Grievance Committee and the Disciplinary Counsel as the complaint proceeds.
CLEVELAND, OH – Attorney Jazmyn Stover had to do something to help the federally-convicted mortgage and securities fraud thief known as Darryl Moore keep the $160,000 in contracts Richmond Heights resident Brandon King, Beachwood resident Willa Taylor Hemmons and “community development director” Melran Leach followed no federal laws to the letter to deliver to him. So Moore’s bargain basement shyster concocted a crazed letter and argued that East Cleveland Council Vice President Juanita Gowdy did not ask any other contractor the same questions as those asked of her criminally-minded, “no-bid-contract-receiving” client.
Council vice president Juanita Gowdy told EJBNEWS she wasn’t paying Darryl Moore’s attorney any attention.
Stover was fired as a Human Resources consultant by Middleburg Heights city council in November 2018 when she worked for Seeley, Savidge, Ebert and Gourash Co., LPA. Middleburg Heights Mayor Gary Starr is a partner in the firm. Stover lasted a year. Starr, like King, obstructed council from obtaining receipts, contracts and other documents associated with the money his law firm was being paid. He resigned before council voted to remove him the same month they showed Stover the door.
When Starr fired the city’s police chief, John Maddox, this dummy, Stover, described the “civil servant” as an “at will” employee. The city paid out roughly $500,000 in settlements and about $380,000 to Maddox. Stover left Starr’s firm and joined Fisher Phillips in March 2019. There are a lot of “foreign names” with Stover’s new employer.
Moore, Stover ignorantly concluded in her correspondence to Hemmons without citing any supportive statute, was a victim of discrimination. Stover completely ignored the truth that he’s the only contractor known to Gowdy and the council to be convicted of federal securities and mortgage fraud. He’s thus far the only contractor known to council whose $2.8 million in restitution is being paid with garnished HUD funds he’s receiving in no bid contracts from King, Leach and Hemmons.
Jazmyn Stover was fired by Middleburg Heights city council in 2018.
Moore’s shyster should know she would be Rule 11’d into a suspension by arguing that the city’s “law makers” should not be concerned that Moore’s 3D Moore, in conspiracy with King, Leach and Hemmons, has been the recipient of illegal no bid HUD-funded demolition contracts. “Thieves gotta eat … too.” Winky Dinky Dog. The Hollywood Shuffle.
Stover then published and disseminated maliciously defamatory information that EJBNEW’s coverage of her client’s crimes with public funds was “both false and misleading and, quite frankly, are an attempt to interfere with 3D Moore’s business relationship with the city.” In Stover’s stupid mind, investigative journalism is “tortious interference with a contract” instead of protected by the free speech provisions of the 1st Amendment she also ignored.
Moore’s attorney, in my opinion, functions intellectually like she was educated online as her advice appears to be guiding her already-once-convicted client back to prison. She obviously has no knowledge of Frisbie Co. v. City of East Cleveland (1918) like she didn’t know civil service police chief’s don’t sign “employment contracts.” Reading is so very fundamental. Class Act. Kid n’ Play. No bid demolition contracts with federal funds is not lawful.
“Where a statute prescribes the mode of exercise of the power therein conferred upon a municipal body, the mode specified is likewise the measure of the power granted, and a contract made in disregard of the express requirements of such statute is not binding or obligatory upon the municipality.” Frisbie Co. v. City of East Cleveland (1918), 98 Ohio St. 266 [120 N.E. 309], paragraph one of the syllabus.”
While Stover may not think Moore has an “individual” duty as a “contractor” to avoid the crime of accepting no bid contracts from King, Hemmons and Leach, an Ohio case captioned Welch v. City of Lima, 89 Ohio App. 457 (1950) says otherwise. Contracts made outside statutory mandates are invalid. The recipient has no collection recourse as they should have known better. They are also imbued with the duty to validate before receiving a contract that the government officials who gave it to them obeyed federal, state and local procurement laws.
“Persons dealing with municipal corporations are charged with notice of all limitations upon the authority of the municipality or its agents, and they are required, at their peril, to ascertain whether statutory requirements relating to the subject of the transaction have been complied with.”
The more Jazmyn Stover writes about Darryl Moore’s relationship with the city of East Cleveland the more she incriminates him.
In her incriminating correspondence to Hemmons, Stover focused on only one EJBNEWS assertion affecting her client that she claimed was false. To give her falsity claim the “appearance” of credibility, Stover recklessly and maliciously disregarded the true statement I wrote and altered the exact language I’d used to describe Moore’s ineligibility to receive no-bid federal block grant contracts. The following unedited language is what was published by EJBNEWS about Moore’s unlawful receipt of federally-funded contracts as a mortgage and securities fraud felon.
HUD’s website features a list of offenses that automatically excluded Moore from applying for or receiving the never-ending stream of no-bid contracts and “grants” King, Leach and Hemmons delivered to him between 2017 and 2021 without RFP’s, advertising or council approval. As East Cleveland council members read the HUD procurement regulations I’ve shared, its members should view all of Hemmons’ legal opinions as her criminal misuse of a usurped public office to protect how she’s been enriching herself by obstructing and violating the civil rights of their elected public offices. Hemmons has never discussed what she knew about Moore’s garnishment with council; and she’s never ensured King and Leach were obeying federal procurement laws.
There are more federal laws and regulations guiding the relationship between contractors convicted of mortgage and securities fraud than those Jazmyn Stover called herself sharing. Nothing in her own published biographies identifies Stover as having competency in federal HUD laws and regulations. She handles human resources, poorly, as evidenced by her 2018 dismissal by Middleburg Heights city council. Council complained that Mayor Gary Starr’s law firm resulted in the city’s taxpayers forking over settlement money.
Either Stover did not fully read or comprehend the entirety of the paragraph above she fecklessly butchered by adding language I did not use and repeating it in writing to the private attorney impersonating the City of East Cleveland’s criminally-complicit director of law. The remainder of her response can be read in its entirety in the images I’ve shared. Readers will see Stover lacked the capacity to correctly repeat the first sentence I wrote before I described Hemmons violations of R.C. 733.57. Below is her mischaracterization of the paragraph I cited above.
EJB asserts that Mr. Moore’s 2008 conviction automatically renders 3D Moore, ineligible from receiving HUD fundings. This is false. HUD regulations do not include any provisions rendering an individual or entity “automatically debarred.”
Stover recklessly and maliciously inserted the words “automatically debarred” for “automatically excluded” in the correspondence she crafted to obstruct Gowdy’s investigative oversight authority as council’s vice president during the Contracts & Properties meeting she attended with Moore. What Stover completely missed or ignored was how the focus of the EJBNEWS story was on the statutory duties King, Hemmons and Leach were failing to discharge as their criminally derelict acts leaves her client even more vulnerable to fraud charges.
Richmond Heights resident Brandon King is a thief and a liar stealing from East Cleveland.
Instead of offering her stupid discrimination claim, Stover should have advised Moore to obey Welch v. City of Lima, 89 Ohio App. 457 (1950). Had she known anything about municipal law instead of employment and union “prevent’ tactics, Stover would have been operating within Disciplinary Rule 1.13 to advise her “organizational” client of one that Hemmons’ was not discharging the following statutory duties regarding the no-bid contracts Leach was setting him up to receive.
When an obligation or contract made on behalf of a municipal corporation, granting a right or easement or creating a public duty, is being evaded or violated, the village solicitor or city director of law shall apply for the forfeiture or the specific performance thereof as the nature of the case requires.
The “oath” and “contract-less” Hemmons admitted during the meeting how she had failed to conduct an investigation of Moore’s background as the city operates on a 90-day budget with spending levels cut by the Financial Planning & Supervision Commission to 85 percent of what King requested and council appropriated.
The mere fact that federal prosecutors had no knowledge at the time of Moore’s 2008 conviction, that he was going to create a demolition company in 2013, does not obviate Gowdy’s duty to question the convicted mortgage and securities fraud criminal now that his receipt of illegal no-bid contracts is known. It also does not obviate Assistant United States Attorney Alex Rokakis’ duty to report and investigate the King administration for delivering Moore the no-bid HUD money even if it added to former United States Attorney Justin Herdman’s restitution collection numbers.
Private attorney Willa Hemmons has no oath or contract to represent the city of East Cleveland as the director of law.
Moore operated his pass-through company from 2013 through 2019 out of the basement of a Noble Road beauty shop with no construction equipment. He only recently purchased an excavator and a low-boy to carry it. Other contractors who have registered with the city, and who actually own equipment and possess licensing to demolish structures, have complained without avail that King’s awarding of no-bid contracts to his friend and campaign donor violated their rights and federal procurement laws.
One contractor called after reading EJBNEWS’ first in a series of a stories about Moore’s unlawful interactions with corrupt East Cleveland officials and asked if contractors could file a class action claim for the fraud.
“They had us register and post bonds. Melran Leach told us we’d be emailed about bids and never received them,” the contractor said.
HUD requires bids to be advertised in newspapers of general circulation as another duty Stover should have advised her client to ensure his “inside” benefactors obeyed. When Gowdy questioned Leach about the published advertisement for the work he wanted to deliver to Moore he produced an email to the Plain Dealer saying one had been requested. He didn’t know if the advertisement was published.
Federal records show just a sample of Darryl Moore’s securities and mortgage fraud federal crimes.
Stover correctly referenced HUD’s Departmental Enforcement Center as the federal authority charged with the duty to place Moore and his company on HUD’s suspension, debarment and limited denials of participation. But the way she did it now opens the door for the information council now knows exists about Moore’s no bid deals with corrupt East Cleveland officials to be shared with HUD’s DEC as well as the federal agency’s Inspector General.
The DEC’s regional office in Chicago can be contacted at 312-913-8059. HUD’s Inspector General in the Cleveland office can be reached at 216-357-7800. HUD’s OIG accepts calls about fraud from anonymous sources.
John Elroy Sanford and I were raised in the St. Louis, Missouri – East Saint Louis, Illinois area. Some members of my staff as East Cleveland’s mayor called me “Big Red.”
Stover had better learn this nation and state’s “defamation” and libel” laws before she tosses out claims that EJBNEWS published information about Moore and his 3D Moore that are false and misleading. Discovery during defamation proceedings can be rough on a criminal with a lot to hide; and Stover’s legal background doesn’t show she has the tools to keep from incriminating him even further. That’s my personal opinion as the city’s former mayor.
Stover’s reputation on the web appears to be self-created social media hype and glamourized pictures. Anyone these days can make themselves look good if their names are not “tagged” in news stories that share otherwise. She’s lucky her Lee Road Cleveland Heights “bar and restaurant” client didn’t move forward with the complaint she considered filing with the Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Association before Disciplinary Counsel Scott Drexel’s death. She felt sorry for a “Sister.” That would have been just another story for EJBNEWS.
As someone who successfully managed East Cleveland’s department of community development, twice, and who worked under a HUD contract for the Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority as the chief of communications and a project planner in the construction division, Moore would be smart to run from another no-bid contract he’s offered by King and “Set “Em Up” Leach. He’s already “In Too Deep.” Omar Epps. LL Cool J.
CLEVELAND, OH – When Richmond Heights resident Brandon King usurped the office of East Cleveland mayor as a non-resident of the city on January 1, 2018, his friend, Darryl Moore, had only made $3400 in restitution payments to the United States government through the U.S. District Court of the Northern District of Ohio.
Moore had been indicted on August 16, 2007 with Leon S. Heard, Steven I. Helfgott, Robert McNair, Mark C. Olds along with other defendants involved in a mortgage fraud, securities fraud, money laundering, wire fraud, interstate transportation of stolen property and conspiracy to acquire millions in dollars from investors without a securities license. They then diverted the proceeds of the dollars they’d stolen from investors to their own personal uses. Big houses, expensive cars, swanky restaurants, tailored suits and lavish lifestyles. The case number is 1:07 CR319. Look it up on PACER. Moore was “making money moves.”
The federal court docket confirms Darryl G. Moore’s conviction, sentencing and restitution amount.
Moore’s “money moves” led to him pleading guilty and being sentenced on July 11, 2008 to 53 months at the McKean Federal Corrections Institution in Bradford, Pennsylvania with three years of supervised release. He was ordered to make restitution in the amount of $1,425,819.09 on Count 2 (Securities Fraud) and $1,388,777.31 on Count 6 (Mortgage Fraud).
The U.S. Attorneys prosecuting the organized crime gang under ex-U.S. Attorney Justin Herdman at the time were John E. Patterson, Christian H. Stickan, Richard J. French, Robert J. Patton, Alex Rokakis and Bridget M. Brennan. Brennan is currently the acting U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio as Herdman’s replacement until President Joseph Robinette Biden’s nominee is confirmed by the United States Senate.
Moore’s conviction on all of the “fraud” offenses automatically excluded him from seeking or receiving a dime from any federal contract. He was specifically required by federal law to leave HUD dollars alone; and it was the duty of Herdman and now Brennan in the U.S. Attorney’s office to ensure that he did as the prosecuting lawyers for the federal housing agency Biden has nominated United States Representative Marcia Louise Fudge to lead.
Assistant US Attorney Alex Rokakis was assigned by US Attorney Justin Herdman to collect on the $2.8 million in restitution Darryl G. Moore owed for his mortgage and security fraud crimes.
These same duties applied, equally, to King, Hemmons and Melran Leach in his official capacity as the mayor’s director of community development. Leach had been a federal “witness” against Moore as one of the co-conspiring players in the organized securities and mortgage fraud crime gang.
As a “grantee” receiving HUD CDBG funds, it was the duty of King, Leach, Hemmons and finance director Charles Iyahen, including an unsuspecting city council, to enforce the “debarment and suspension” mandates found in the United States Code and the United States Code of Federal Regulations. Moore was ineligible to receive any municipal contracts from a federally-funded city pursuant to Chapter 24 of the United States Code of Federal Regulations Section 85.35. It is cited as 24 CFR 85.35.
Excluded Parties. Grantees must not make any award (subgrant or contract) to any organization which is debarred or suspended or is otherwise excluded from or ineligible for participation in Federal assistance programs under Executive Order 12549, ”Debarment and Suspension.” This applies to any CDBG-assisted contract at any tier in the process.
I’m sharing a link to HUD’s procurement regulations every mayor, council member and non-profit receiving CDBG dollars have a duty to know and obey. Citizen activists and journalists should master the regulations as well.
US Attorney Justin Herdman and Assistant US Attorney Alex Rokakis knew pursuant to 18 USC 4, Misprision of felony, that Darryl Moore was “excluded” from receiving HUD CDBG funds from the city of East Cleveland. Rokakis was one of Moore’s prosecutors.
HUD’s website features a list of offenses that automatically excluded Moore from applying for or receiving the never-ending stream of no-bid contracts and “grants” King, Leach and Hemmons delivered to him between 2017 and 2021 without RFP’s, advertising or council approval. As East Cleveland council members read the HUD procurement regulations I’ve shared, its members should view all of Hemmons’ legal opinions as her criminal misuse of a usurped public office to protect how she’s been enriching herself by obstructing and violating the civil rights of their elected public offices. Hemmons has never discussed what she knew about Moore’s garnishment with council; and she’s never ensured King and Leach were obeying federal procurement laws.
After his release from prison, Moore on January 30, 2012 registered 3D Moore Enterprises LLC with the Ohio Secretary of State. His friend, King, was not yet on city council or the mayor. King entered the office of mayor without delivering an oath of office to the Clerk of the Council on December 7, 2016 after Gary Alexander Norton, Jr. was recalled. He repeated the same oath offense on January 1, 2018.
On October 19, 2017, Moore operating under his D Moore Enterprises LLC received his first big check for $39,500 from partners in crime King and Leach to demolish 1277 Hayden Avenue. It was a single family home once owned by a local female pastor that could easily have been brought “up to code” with the same money and resold at cost to a large family.
Darryl G. Moore appears to have created 3 D Moore Enterprises LLC shortly after being released from prison.
Four months after King was sworn in on January 1, 2018 as East Cleveland’s mayor, after winning the November 2017 general election with the help of campaign donations Moore had given him, Rokakis, a Greek American, on April 26, 2018 entered a Notice of Appearance for the “USA.” There was a “random reassignment” of magistrates on April 27, 2018 and an order was issued the same day assigning the case to Magistrate Judge George J. Limbert. He retires in 2022.
On May 2, 2018, a Notice of Garnishment was sent to East Cleveland asking for the money “Darryl Moore” was owed in his “individual” name. OPERS was also noticed as it appears to support suspicions that Moore is being falsely represented to the state pension board as an employee and not a contractor.
Gowdy told EJBNEWS she plans to investigate how many contractors and friends of King’s are being carried as employees under East Cleveland’s OPERS account. Hemmons is not an employee but an independent contractor operating under an expired contract with no oath of office.
The federal docket does not reflect the event that “triggered” Herdman to send Alex Rokakis after East Cleveland to collect on the $2.8 million in restitution Moore owed the United States government. It only reflects that from the time of his release from prison until May 2, 2018, he had only paid $3400 in restitution.
Darryl Moore’s fortunes changed after his $1000 donation to Brandon King’s campaign committee resulted in a check for $39000 from a no bid demolition contract.
Private attorney Hemmons, responded in a June 8, 2018 motion that the federal court should amend its record to identify “3D Moore” and not “Darryl Moore” as the garnishee. Court documents show Rokakis validated the 3D Moore claim with Ohio’s Secretary of State and Cuyahoga County; and wrote the amendment approved by federal Judge John R. Adams. There is no information in the federal docket that Rokakis ever shared Moore’s excluded status with Judge Adams; or that he and Herdman sought to formalize the exclusions with HUD after his “mortgage fraud” conviction.
Moore’s name would be on HUD’s exclusion list but for Herdman and Rokakis’ seeming conspiratorial negligence. Had they alerted HUD officials that a mortgage fraud felon was submitting invoices to obtain no-bid CDBG dollars it would have prevented Herdman and Rokakis from collecting Moore’s restitution.
Alex Rokakis’ garnishment notices were also forwarded to the Ohio Public Employees Retirement System (OPERS). It was an act which strongly-implied that King was creating a pension for Moore as a “contractor” that was being paid by East Cleveland taxpayers.
If OPERS is involved its officials were delivered fraudulent documents that falsely-identified “Moore” as an employee. Rokakis seemed unconcerned that pension contributions to contractors criminally violated Section 145.038 of the Revised Code of Ohio.
Acknowledgement of independent contractor status. (A) A public employer who on or after January 7, 2013, begins to receive personal services from an individual it classifies as an independent contractor or another classification other than public employee shall inform the individual of the classification and that no contributions will be made to the public employees retirement system for the services.
In the documents he submitted to the federal court presided over by Judge John R. Adams, assistant U.S. Attorney Alex Rokakis appears to have had no curiosity about the source of funds the city was delivering to the ex-offender who was in real time committing violations of federal HUD procurement laws. Neither did Judge Adams.
Willa Hemmons is a contract attorney impersonating East Cleveland’s director of law.
Herdman and Rokakis also seemed unconcerned that Moore was operating a so-called demolition company with no equipment and no prior experience out of his beauty shop’s basement on Noble Road. Moore did not even possess a Commercial Drivers License. [NOTE: One of Alex Rokakis’ cousins was seen in East Cleveland doing a walk-through of a home his company was given an award to demolish from the county landbank his brother, James Rokakis, once led before resigning in disgrace.]
What appears to have been Herdman’s only concern in the documents Rokakis created and presented to Judge Adams was the collection of the $2.8 million Moore owed. It also did not appear to matter that the money Moore was collecting was being stolen from HUD. [NOTE: Judge Adams was ordered to undergo a mental health evaluation after allegations of misconduct were filed against him with the Judicial Council of the Sixth Circuit. The mental health evaluation and charges were dropped against the federal judge on June 27, 2019.]
Annually U.S. Attorneys are required to give “Annual Statistical Reports” that identify action on restitution collections. Herdman appeared to be interested only in building up his numbers as Trump was considering the Jones Day partner to lead the U.S. Attorneys office in Washington, D.C. His nomination never made it out of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee.
Jones Day recently closed its Moscow office and relocated the Russian who led it, Vladmir Lechtman, to Washington, D.C. The firm has represented the Russian Federation as unregistered foreign agents Herdman did not investigate for violating the Foreign Agents Registration Act.
Alex Rokakis’ documented mission focused only on getting a plan worked out with East Cleveland to deliver the “garnished” portion of the federal goverment’s HUD CDBG dollars the excluded felon was obtaining in violation of federal laws from King, Hemmons, Leach and Iyahen in no bid contracts.
U.S. District Court Judge John R. Adams has enough problems without being dragged into an East Cleveland organized crime drama by Assistant U.S. Attorney Alex Rokakis and former U.S. Attorney Justin Herdman.
The workout plan included King and private attorney Willa Hemmons, who has no contract, no oath of office nor the residency qualifications under Ohio laws to discharge the duties of a municipal director of law, agreeing to send the proceeds of Moore’s “no bid” HUD-funded demolition contracts to the U.S. District Court. Hemmons is a resident of Shaker Heights.
Herdman and Alex Rokakis’ completely ignored their “Misprision of felony” duties pursuant to 18 U.S.C. 4 to prevent the theft of HUD CDBG funds from “excluded” individuals and contractors as the Secretary of HUD’s prosecutors. Each ignored, as well, Disciplinary Rule 1.13 in the Rules of Professional Conduct for lawyers in Ohio instead of misleading the USDOJ’s employees into a conspiracy to aid Moore in the commission of his crimes against HUD just to collect restitution payments. Neither appear to have cared where the money came from as long as they got it.
An order from the Judicial Council of the Sixth Circuit ended the misconduct investigation of Judge John R. Adams. He should feel “used” by Alex Rokakis for dragging him into an organized crime drama with an excluded felon receiving HUD funded demolition awards that violated Congress’ procurement laws. Adams should review FrisbieCompanyv. The City or EastCleveland, 98 Ohio St. 266 (1918). Contracts awarded in violation of public bidding laws are voided. Contractors have a duty not to accept a contract awarded in violation of laws. Ward 2 Councilwoman Juanita Gowdy was right not to listen to the crap Darryl Moore’s attorney spewed during her contracts and property committee meeting.
Herdman, Rokakis and Hemmons all appear to have violated DR 1.13(a) and (b).
(a) A lawyer employed or retained by an organization represents the organization acting through its constituents. A lawyer employed or retained by an organization owes allegiance to the organization and not to any constituent or other person connected with the organization. The constituents of an organization include its owners and its duly authorized officers, directors, trustees, and employees.
(b) If a lawyer for an organization knows or reasonably should know that its constituent’s action, intended action, or refusal to act (1) violates a legal obligation to the organization, or (2) is a violation of law that reasonably might be imputed to the organization and that is likely to result in substantial injury to the organization, then the lawyer shall proceed as is necessary in the best interest of the organization. When it is necessary to enable the organization to address the matter in a timely and appropriate manner, the lawyer shall refer the matter to higher authority, including, if warranted by the circumstances, the highest authority that can act on behalf of the organization under applicable law.
Council vice president Juanita Gowdy started asking the hard questions about contracts, police warrantless pursuits the media calls high speed chases and Brandon King’s spending as soon as she joined council on January 1, 2020.
Rokakis is the younger brother of former Cuyahoga County Land Reutilization creator James Rokakis who aided George Michael Riley and Christine Beynon in creating the pile-up of 1000 demolished landbank properties at 1740 Noble Road behind residential homes in East Cleveland. James Rokakis has long been suspected of being protected by his assistant U.S. Attorney brother.
Alex Rokakis appears to have a conflicted relationship with his East Cleveland involvement since the agency his brother led aided Riley in committing environmental crimes against the city’s residents that weakened immune systems, caused cancer and may have resulted in several deaths. Barbara Garner, a non-smoker, died of lung cancer in 2016. Her son believes the 5-story pile of death behind their Noble Road home was the cause.
No one has been criminally-prosecuted for the illegal, deadly and immune weakening “construction and demolition debris landfill” James Rokakis supported between Collinwood High School and Apex Charter School near the Helen S. Brown senior citizen high-rise and Crystal Towers. What Alex Rokakis wanted was a workout plan and a garnishment.
City council warned private attorney Willa Hemmons to stop impersonating the city’s director of law in any and every court.
After Ward 2 residents elected Juanita Gowdy to the city council in November 2018, and she was administered an oath of office on January 1, 2020, she immediately began asking for and was obstructed by King, Hemmons and attorney Heather McCollough from receiving all the information she requested about Moore’s contracts and Hemmons’ oath and contract. McCollough notarized recall petitions against Gowdy that identified Kelly Bright as the circulator that she claimed were delivered to her by Che Gadison. Gowdy defeated Gadison in 2019.
Gowdy, and citizen activists, who were asking the USDOJ under Herdman for help, had no idea federal prosecutors were aiding Moore in his theft of federal funds by ignoring their duties to keep him “excluded” and HUD protected. Gowdy confirmed during her first year in office that U.S. District Court Judge James Gwin’s revelations that Hemmons was not representing the city were also confirmed.
Section 705.28 of the Revised Code of Ohio required every employee and officer of the municipal corporation to be administered an oath of office before they began discharging the duties of the public offices to which they were appointed. The oaths were required to be filed with the Clerk of Council. Gowdy confirmed that none of the city’s official’s oaths were filed with the council clerk.
CDBG director Melran Leach had a duty to keep excluded vendors like his friend Darryl Moore away from federal dollars.
Hemmons supplied an “affidavit” instead of an oath though it was her duty pursuant to Section 733.57 of the Revised Code of Ohio and her contract to ensure the city’s officers and contractors were discharging their official duties.
When an obligation or contract made on behalf of a municipal corporation, granting a right or easement or creating a public duty, is being evaded or violated, the village solicitor or city director of law shall apply for the forfeiture or the specific performance thereof as the nature of the case requires.
Since he’s been freed from prison, Moore’s 3D Moore has had almost exclusive access to demolition awards coming from the community development department under King’s oversight and his former partner Leach’s management. King and Leach are now trying to give him an $80,000 contract to “patch” a parking lot at city hall.
Like the other awards of federal funds to the mayor’s friends, Leach can’t prove to council that he obeyed HUD’s procurement laws as he seeks to have contracts given to Moore totaling $160,000. When recently asked if the bids were advertised, Leach supplied an email claiming that he asked the Plain Dealer to place the bid notice without producing an actual copy of to prove that it had been published.
Richmond Heights resident Brandon King is a thief and a liar stealing from East Cleveland.
Once the documents I’ve shared in this story reaches council’s hands, King, Hemmons, Leach and Charles Iyahen are going to have some additional explaining to do. So should Herdman and Rokakis to the appropriate federal oversight authorities for their unreported complicitness in Moore’s theft of CDBG funds HUD sent to direct entitlement East Cleveland.
