(www.clevelandurbannews.com) / (www.kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com)

CLEVELAND, Ohio-A four-year Cleveland Urban News.Com comprehensive investigation reveals that fired former Cuyahoga County sheriff Bob Reid, a candidate for the Democratic primary for county executive this year, stole foreclosed homes when he was sheriff by reducing the appraisal values in violation of state law and selling them back, through sheriffs sales, to mortgage companies under subsidiary names, and to banks and a host of others at a fraction of the value. The documented theft, the investigation shows, was allegedly assisted by JPMorgan Chase Bank attorneys such as Nelson Reid of Bricker and Eckler law firm, other bigwig law firm attorneys, and several judges of the 34-member Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas, including Judge Carolyn Friedland and Judge John O'Donnell. And former county prosecutor Bill Mason is now a partner with the Cleveland office of the law firm of Bricker and Eckler LLP, who represents Chase and other banks and mortgage companies in allegedly stealing the homes from Blacks and others through illegal foreclosures, along with the law firm of Lerner, Sampson and Rothfuss, among others.

In fact, Bricker and Eckler represents the county in assessing malfeasance by county employees, a hypocritical fiscal opportunity that suggest that county officials are in on the documented mortgage and foreclosure fraud and theft, the investigation also reveals.

Cuyahoga County is the state's largest of 88 counties. It is roughly 29 percent Black and includes the majority Black cities of East Cleveland and Cleveland, and Cleveland's eastern suburbs.

Under state law (Ohio Revised Code 2329.17) foreclosed homes are to be sold for a third off  the appraised value with any remaining monies returned to the previous homeowner minus interest and what is owed on the mortgage loan to date.State law also mandates that the homes are appraised like other residential homes, and reducing their appraisal value is illegal. Also under state law the county sheriff hires and fires the appraisers, and data show that in Cuyahoga County the appraisers often do as they please and work at the pleasure of judges, and the sheriff, and even have their own arbitrary appraisals-of-foreclosed-homes chart, a chief deputy of Reid's told Cleveland Urban News.Com in 2011. And Reid had his own appraisal chart too, deputy James Bitterman, Reid's former assistant,  told Cleveland Urban News.Com.

Much of the alleged fraud, data show, is being perpetuated by Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas Foreclosure Magistrate Chief Steven Bucha, who has been removed from some foreclosure cases for documented fraud.

Reid, 61, was fired as sheriff early last year by County Executive Ed FitzGerald, a candidate for the Democratic nomination for governor this year. Under the current county governance structure, one approved by voters in 2009, the county executive hires and fires the county sheriff, clerk of courts, coroner, treasurer and fiscal officer, and hands out county contracts, among other authorities, and  under the watch of an 11-member, policy-making Cuyahoga County Council.

Community activists want Reid's alleged malfeasance presented to a Cuyahoga County Grand Jury for a potential criminal indictment. They also want both a state and federal law where foreclosed homes are sold based upon the last legal county property tax appraisal. They say they want county sheriffs taken out of the puzzle altogether to minimize the theft of foreclosed homes that they say lowers property values in Cuyahoga County, in Ohio, and in other states across the nation that allow sheriffs to appraise foreclosed homes for sheriff sales.

Data further show that county inspector general Nailah Byrd has failed to act on the foreclosure theft, and complaints around it,  as have operatives of the Cleveland FBI, who asked Cleveland Urban News.Com some three years ago, "what is county prosecutor Bill Mason doing about it?"

Mason was once a strong link in the Cuyahoga County Democratic Party, a still powerful political stronghold stung by a county public corruption probe that has netted more than 60 guilty pleas or convictions, including prison for two judges, both Democrats, and former county commissioner Jimmy Dimora and former county auditor Frank Russo, also Democrats and both serving lengthy federal prison terms in excess of 20 years. Most implicated in the ongoing probe were businessmen connected to the county Democratic party.

A Democrat out of Parma, Ohio, a Cleveland suburb, Mason escaped prosecution and jail in spite of data that show he allegedly had an unlawful interest in a public contract relative to a computer technician he hired to work in the prosecutor's office when he was county prosecutor.

Mason resigned as county prosecutor in 2012 toward the end of his second four year term after foregoing a re-election bid and took a job as a partner with Bricker and Eckler, a law firm that has profited by millions with rich clients like JPMorgan Chase Bank, Citibank and Wells Fargo, three of the Big Five that last year settled a National Mortgage Settlement. That settlement followed a loss of homes by foreclosure, some from Cuyahoga County during Reid's tenure as sheriff, a settlement at $26 billion for foreclosure impropriety. Homeowners, however, only got $1,480 each while the 49 states attorneys generals that participated, including Mike DeWine in Ohio,  got the bulk of the settlement.

U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, a Cleveland Democrat, had said he disagreed with the National Mortgage Settlement because homeowners got ripped off, after losing their homes illegally. The national mortgage settlement, one of a handful in recent years, has no admission of guilt by the banks or mortgage companies that are parties to the settlement.

Tim McGinty, a former common pleas judge also accused of participating in the overwhelming foreclosure fraud when he was a judge, is Mason's successor. Also a Democrat, McGinty has not taken aggressive stances against foreclosure and mortgage fraud since taking office, though he has given more attention to rape and murder cases involving missing or raped women across the county.

Also, the Cleveland Chapter NAACP ignored the foreclosure

theft because some of its officials were profiting by purchasing the stolen foreclosed homes until the Rev. Hilton Smith, an associate minister at Greater Abyssinia Baptist Church in Cleveland and a communications vice president at Turner Construction Company, took over as chapter president last year. Upon the urging of community activists Smith  permitted a discussion around the issue via the housing committee of the Cleveland NAACP. That committee is led by the Rev David Hunter, senior pastor at Bright Star Missionary Baptist Church in East Cleveland and president of the Baptist Ministers Alliance.

Last month community activists and victims of the foreclosure fraud gave testimony before the NAACP housing committee and presented documentation of Reid's theft of foreclosed homes when he was sheriff between May of 2009 and January of 2013. He was replaced by now sheriff Frank Bova, a former Warrensville Heights police chief.

Bold and arrogant, Reid, a former Bedford, Ohio police chief and city manager, now seeks to run the county as county executive and faces front- runner state Rep. Armond Budish (D-8), state Sen. Shirley Smith (D-21), former North Olmsted mayor Thomas O'Grady, Walter Allen Rogers Jr., and Tim Russo for the May 6 Democratic primary. The winner will face Republican Jack Schron, a Cuyahoga County Council member, in the Nov 4 general election.

Bedford has its problems too as pimp judge Harry Jacob, a Republican whom the Ohio Supreme Court has disqualified from the bench, was indicted late last year on charges of bribery, theft and that he knowingly ran a prostitution ring out of the court, among other charges. The Cleveland Urban News.Com investigation reveals that Jacob and Bedford Judge Brian Melling would harass maliciously prosecuted Black defendants brought before them that complained of Reid's documented foreclosure theft and cooperation in it by county officials, judges, and others.

Reid is also allegedly protected by the Cleveland Plain  Dealer, Ohio's largest newspaper, the investigation reveals, a newspaper with money problems that gets a break on county taxes, data indicate.

The testimony taken by video before the Cleveland NAACP last month on Reid's foreclosure malfeasance show examples of his theft of homes across the county from his time as sheriff. His predecessor, former sheriff Gerald McFaul, who resigned office in disgrace and amid misdemeanor convictions of crimes in office, also stole a wealth of foreclosed homes, data show.

For instance, when Reid was sheriff,  a Cleveland home valued by the county at $47,400 in 2012 for property tax purposes sold for $5,000 at a sheriff's sale after Reid had his hired appraisers deflated the value. And likewise,  a Cleveland home was appraised by the county at $77, 800 in 2012 and sold for $8,000 at a sheriff sale, again after the value was deflated. Another foreclosed Cleveland home went for $11,000 at a sheriff's sale but was appraised for $61,400 in 2012 by the county for property taxes. These figures, which are public records, represent similar activity as to county foreclosures in various municipalities, village and townships, some 8,000 annual court filings in recent years, with the figure nearly up to 10,000 in 2010, and down slightly below $8,000 last year.

In neighboring suburbs like Cleveland Heights/University Heights the theft was even greater. Data show that Reid, pushed by Bricker and Eckler Attorney Nelson Reid, who represents JPMorgan Chase Bank in the matter, and with help from Judges Friedland and O'Donnell, who sanctioned the theft, sold a Cleveland Heights/University Heights home that he thought he had cleverly stolen to sale to JPMorgan Chase Bank under a subsidiary name of Homes Sales DBA Inc for $36,000. This was after he deflated the appraisal value of it in violation of state law.

A public  records search reveals that that Cleveland Heights/University Heights home, owned by a Black family, appraised at $123,000 in 2009 for county property tax purposes, was sold in 2011 for $36,000 by Reid at a sheriff's sale after he had the value deflated, and then it was re-appraised by the county for $116,000 months later for property taxes. Data also show that in 2011 Reid stole that Cleveland Heights/University Heights home to sale it after, earlier in 2011, Judge Friedland dismissed a foreclosure filed against the home by current mortgage holder JPMorgan Chase Bank. He virtually sold the home, he thought, after Friedland had dismissed the case. And Friendland's slickness applied when in her dismissal journal entry, she claimed that she was transferring her case to Judge O'Donnell, knowing full well that after she dismissed the case she could not transfer it and that under the rules of court or the rules of superintendence only the chief judge, Nancy Fuerst, can reassign cases, and with limited authority, authority she did not have either in that instance.

Specifically, after Friedland dismissed the case, Judge O'Donnell illegally re-ignited an old foreclosure on the same home but with a defunct mortgage company. Reid  then sold the home for $36,000  to the current mortgage company of JPMorgan Chase Bank under its subsidiary name of Homes Sales DBA Inc. at a sheriff's sale. But the sheriff's sale at issue and O'Donnell's ruling sanctioning the malfeasance and deflated appraisal value and the sale of the home itself have no legal significance where Friedland's previous dismissal is the binding ruling.

Once a case is dismissed by a common pleas judge it can either be appealed to a state appellate court or re-filed within a year, the latter applicable only if the case were dismissed without prejudice. And Friedland dismissed that Cleveland Heights/University Heights foreclosure case that was filed by the current mortgage company JPMorgan Chase Bank without prejudice, data show.

Case law in Ohio, which is law made by state appellate courts and Ohio Supreme Court decisions, allows only the bank or mortgage company that  currently owns the promissory mortgage note to foreclose. Hence,  Judge Friedland and Judge O'Donnell's corruption, and the corruption of some of their judicial colleagues in hearing cases filed by Bricker and Eckler and other attorneys representing defunct mortgage companies and banks to steal homes for cheap for the current mortgage companies and banks such as JPMorgan Chase Bank, and in the absence of the new mortgage company or banks like Chase even foreclosing, is illegal ( See the lawsuits of Wells Fargo vs Jordan, Cuyahoga App. 91675, 2009-Ohio-1092 (8th Dist) and  Fed Home Loan Mtge vs. Schwartzwald, 143 Ohio St. 3d 13, 2012-Ohio-5017)

By  Kathy Wray Coleman, Cleveland Urban News. Com and The Cleveland Urban News.Com Blog, Ohio's Most Read Online Black Newspaper and Newspaper Blog. Tel: 216-659-0473. (Kathy Wray Coleman is a 20-year investigative and political journalist and legal reporter who trained for 17 years at the Call and Post Newspaper, Ohio's Black press)(www.clevelandurbannews.com) / (www.kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com)

CLEVELAND, Ohio- Cuyahoga County Executive Ed FitzGerald gave his state of the county address earlier today, an event sponsored by the City Club of Cleveland.

The front runner for the Democratic nomination for governor this year who did not seek re-election as county executive and a former Lakewood, Ohio mayor and prior FBI agent FitzGerald, 45, caught some people off guard during his 40 minute speech when he said that he and Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson had met and agreed to push for legislation for a takeover of the Cleveland jail by the county, which means that inmates charged with misdemeanor crimes will be housed in the Cuyahoga County Jail with felons and people charged with felonies. Cleveland City Council would have to approve an ordinance to hand inmates over to the county, though Jackson usually gets his way with the 17-member city council.

The Cleveland Municipal Court hears traffic and misdemeanor cases and lawsuits with damages sought at or below $15,000, and the Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas hears felonies and accompanying misdemeanors, and lawsuits with damages sought above $15,000, among other legal matters. Arrestees charged with felonies and those serving time relative to felony cases are housed in the county jail.

FitzGerald said that he had discussed the jail merger in detail with Jackson, who is Black and last month began a third-four year term to lead the largely Black major American city. He said that "the county will assume the operations of the city jail."

The city of Euclid has also agreed to give the county authority over housing its jail inmates, FitzGerald told the audience of some 700 people that came to hear the state of affairs of Cuyahoga County, Ohio's largest of 88 counties statewide, and one that is 29 percent Black, is heavily Democratic, and contains 59 cities, villages and townships including Cleveland, neighboring East Cleveland and Warrensville Heights, also majority Black cities.

Jackson did not return phone calls seeking comment on why he, a Black mayor, would agree that the city would house people charged with misdemeanors, a disproportionate number of whom are Black, in the county jail with violent felons.

But FitzGerald did say that the city would save $5 million annually, an indication that money, and not necessarily the safety of inmates, is paramount.

Nonetheless, FitzGerald, also a former assistant county prosecutor, was smooth with his delivery and showed that he is infact a gubernatorial candidate as he closes in on incumbent Republican Gov John Kasich with the Democratic primary and November general election nearing.

A new Quinnipiac poll shows a five point gap with Kasich leading FitzGerald, a virtual unknown, 43 percent to 38 percent.

Responding to the poll FitzGerald said in a press release to Cleveland Urban News.Com that he does not believe the daily financial anxiety Ohio's families have endured under John Kasich should be the new normal and that if he is elected governor he will "ensure that all Ohio families will see their hard work pay off."

His state of the county speech outlined a 12-point plan for countywide improvements that includes consumer and veteran affairs departments, proposed regionalism, $60 million in local infrastructure monies, $50 million in bond monies to address and protect abandoned homes, further development of downtown Cleveland, including PlayhouseSquare and the new convention center, and public health and public safety programs.

The comprehensive plan also includes redevelopment of the Lake Erie waterfront, and enhancements to the east bank of the Flats.

FitzGerald said that under his leadership more attention has been given to missing persons, with a missing persons county website, and to sexual assaults, though additional county resources to address the recent epidemic of rape and murder of women in the county across racial lines are for the most part limited to self-defense training, data show.

Data also show that neither county nor city officials has proposed and followed through with any substantive changes in the midst of at least two serial killers in recent years, one in Cleveland and the other in East Cleveland, and the infamous Ariel Castro, who raped and tortured three women for a decade at his since demolished home on Cleveland's largely White west side.

Castro committed suicide late last year, a month into a life sentence for rape, kidnapping and a host of other crimes.

FitzGerald said that the county must strive for both economic growth and economic equality, "regardless of race or gender."

The county executive also touched on the new county administration building that he said would help people forget the public corruption probe scandal, one that has netted more than 60 guilty pleas or convictions, including prison for two judges, both Democrats, and former county commissioner Jimmy Dimora and former county auditor Frank Russo, also Democrats and both serving lengthy federal prison terms in excess of 20 years. Most implicated in the ongoing probe were businessmen connected to the Cuyahoga County Democratic Party.

FitzGerald took the helm as county executive in 2011 amid a county corruption probe scandal, and after voters dumped a three-member board of commissioners and all elected county offices but the judges and chose a governance structure of a county executive that hires and fires the county sheriff, coroner, treasurer, fiscal officer, clerk of courts, and works in cooperation with a policymaking 11-member Cuyahoga County Council.

Asked during the question and answer session of the City Club forum if he had an explanation for some county council members gripe that he has too much power and can be difficult at times, FitzGerald said that if the community welfare is what's important that "there will always be tension between the executive branch and legislative branch."

FitzGerald implied that the sheriff's office has improved since he fired former county sheriff Bob Reid, a candidate for county executive for this year's Democratic primary along with, state Rep. Armond Budish (D-8), state Sen. Shirley Smith (D-21), former North Olmsted mayor Thomas O'Grady, Walter Allen Rogers Jr., and Tim Russo. The winner will face Republican Jack Schron, a Cuyahoga County Council member, in the Nov 4 general election.

He said that Sheriff Frank Bova, a former Warrensville Heights police chief whom he appointed after he ousted Reid, a former Bedford , Ohio police chief and city manager, has served with "integrity and distinction."

Reid, 61, is under fire by community activists for the documented theft of foreclosed homes when he was sheriff between May of 2009 and January of 2013.

FitzGerald said he took the job as county executive with the belief that he could make a positive difference.

"I began with a belief that something better was possible for this county," said FitzGerald (www.clevelandurbannews.com) / (www.kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com)

"I grew up here, was educated here, "said King,  with the mayor adding that "this is the beginning of what we hope are a series of fights."

King, 82, is a multi-millionaire and native Clevelander who graduated from John Adams High School in Cleveland and briefly attended Kent State University. He has promoted some of the most prominent names in boxing including Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazier, George Foreman, Larry Holmes, Mike Tyson, Evander Holyfield, Julio César Chávez, Ricardo Mayorga, Andrew Golota, Félix Trinidad, Roy Jones, Jr. and Marco Antonio Barrera. His highlights include "Thrilla in Manila" and "The Rumble in the Jungle," in which heavyweight Muhammad Ali, boxing's all time greatest, regained his crown from George Foreman. (www.clevelandurbannews.com) / (www.kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com) (nod32)