East Cleveland Police Officer Charged with Criminal Charges

CLEVELAND — Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Michael O’Malley announced Wednesday that 11 former and current East Cleveland police officers have been charged with violating civil rights and public corruption.

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“Cancer is growing in the East Cleveland Police Department,” said O’Malley. “We’re doing our best to get rid of all the tentacles of cancer so this department can rebuild and grow and be in a position to not only enforce the law, but hire law-abiding officers. Today. is a sad day for all law enforcement agencies.”

O’Malley estimated that the East Cleveland Police Department currently has only 20 active duty officers.

Wednesday’s announcement brought criminal charges against 16 current or former East Cleveland police officers in the past seven months.

“All of these officers took an oath to serve and protect the public when they were appointed to these positions. said.

During the press conference, authorities released videos of numerous incidents showing a pattern of misconduct by multiple East Cleveland officers, including:

• Officer Nicholas Forty
• Officer Ian McInnes
• Officer Kyle Wood
• Sergeant John Hartman
• Officer Tristan Homan
• Cop Brian Stoll
• Officer Tyler Mundson
• Officer Lauris Manns
• Officer Brian Parks
• Daniel Toomer
• Tre Dehart Robinson

“To the casual observer, I think these videos are appalling and do not adequately reflect the crackdown and overt criminal activity within our community,” O’Malley said. increase.

East Cleveland Police Chief Brian Gerhardt told 3News’ Emma Henderson that all of the indicted active-duty officers have been suspended without pay.

Officer Tristan Homan was a former member of the East Cleveland Police Department who was hired by the Elyria Police Department in October 2022. “The city knew nothing about the case or the investigation before hiring him,” Randi said. .

At approximately 4:15 p.m., Randy released a short statement. “Following a direct conversation with agents representing the Cuyahoga County Attorney’s Office and the FBI, the city has fired Officer Tristan Homan.”

3News broadcast O’Malley’s press conference live.

Note: Officials say the video will play during the press conference, but warn that the content “may be graphic or offensive to viewers.”

Eleven police officers were indicted in 11 cases from February 2020 to July 2020.

Officers Toomer, Wood, Mundson, Stoll, McInnes, Hartman, Homan, Manns and DeHart Robinson were charged with various criminal offenses on the indictment.

• violent assault
• Assault
• attempted vicious assault
• obstruction of civil rights
• dereliction of duty
• communication fraud
• theft in office
• falsification of evidence
• falsification of records
• obstruction of justice
• disruption of public services

Foti, 38, has been charged with:

• violent assault
• attempted vicious assault
• Assault
• obstruction of civil rights
• dereliction of duty

Parks, 38, has been charged with:

• ferocious assault
• attempted vicious assault
• Assault
• obstruction of civil rights
• dereliction of duty
• falsification of records

Of the indicted officers, seven were newly charged, four were previously charged, and have additional new charges.

Previously, the Cuyahoga County Attorney’s Office also charged Scott Gardner, DeMarco Johnson, Von Harris, Willie Warner Sims, and Alfonso Cole, who served in the East Cleveland Police Department.

Altogether, the 16 East Cleveland officers charged have been implicated in 31 separate cases from June 2018 to July 2022. These incidents involved a total of 17 victims.

“East Cleveland has good police officers who come to work every day and do the right thing. We were connected,” said O’Malley.

During the press conference, O’Malley joined the following parties:

• Chief of Criminal Affairs and Assistant Prosecutor — Gregory Mussman
• FBI Special Agent — Gregory Nelsen

The FBI’s Cleveland office has set up a hotline that anyone with information about the incident with the East Cleveland Police Department is asked to call at 216-583-5343.

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