Pictured is Cleveland Ward 4 Councilman Kenneth Johnson
Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, the most read Black digital newspaper in Ohio and in the Midwest, and the most read independent digital news in Ohio. Tel: (216) 659-0473. Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com. We interviewed former president Barack Obama one-on-one when he was campaigning for president. As to the Obama interview. CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE AT CLEVELAND URBAN NEWS.COM, OHIO'S LEADER IN BLACK DIGITAL NEWS.
By Kathy Wray Coleman, associate publisher, editor in chief. Coleman trained for 17 years as a reporter with the Call and Post Newspaper and is an investigative and political reporter with a background in legal and scientific reporting. She is also a former 15-year public school biology teacher.
CLEVELANDURBANNEWS.COM, CLEVELAND, Ohio –Longtime Cleveland Ward 4 Councilman Kenneth Johnson was arrested Tuesday in connection with a federal grand jury indictment that accuses him of stealing $127,000 from the city by submitting false monthly expense reports for his ward over a period of years, Johnson the councilman of the largely Black east side ward since 1980.
A source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Johnson is among a host of Blacks under investigation and that it is "open season on Black elected officials by the White establishment."
An ally of four-term mayor Frank Jackson, whom sources say will not seek reelection this year to a fifth term, Johnson, 74, was indicted on 15 counts, including filing false tax returns, falsification of records, witness tampering, and two counts of conspiracy to commit theft from a federal program.
The indictment was unsealed Tuesday in district court as an FBI investigation continues into the councilman's monthly expense account relative to city monies he gets for his ward and federal monies earmarked for the non-profit Buckeye- Shaker Square communities he serves.
It says that Johnson demanded the maximum amount of $1,200 monthly for his ward from the city's coffers but could not prove how much of the money, which has allegedly been requested for several years, including in 2019, has been spent.
Johnson's longtime aide, Garnell Jamison, 61, was also indicted, as was John Hopkins of Cleveland Heights, the former executive director of the Buckeye -Shaker Square Development Corp. in ward 4, which encompasses the Buckeye area near Shaker Square along the Shaker Heights border, and the Woodland Hills and Mount Pleasant neighborhoods.
The charges come as Johnson and the other 16 members of city council are up for reelection in 2021 and following a plea deal with federal prosecutors involving Robert Fitzpatrick, a Johnson affiliate and 35-year city employee who pleaded guilty earlier this month to charges that he conspired to commit theft from a federal program.
Also at issue are federal and state monies regarding the Kenneth Johnson Recreation Center on Woodland Avenue, which is named after the councilman, and is one of several city recreation centers that Fitzpatrick oversaw.
Mayor Jackson has not commented on Johnson's indictment, and City Council President Kevin Kelley, a possible mayoral candidate, is taking a wait and see approach.
Cleveland is a largely Black major American city and the second most segregated city in the nation behind Boston.
Mayor Jackson and all of the city council, nearly half of its members Black, are Democrats.
Jackson is the city's third Black mayor.
Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, the most read Black digital newspaper in Ohio and in the Midwest, and the most read independent digital news in Ohio. Tel: (216) 659-0473. Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com. We interviewed former president Barack Obama one-on-one when he was campaigning for president. As to the Obama interview. CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE AT CLEVELAND URBAN NEWS.COM, OHIO'S LEADER IN BLACK DIGITAL NEWS.
