Home Cleveland Press Releases 2010 Westlake Attorney Charged in Connection with Cuyahoga County Public Corruption Investigation
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Westlake Attorney Charged in Connection with Cuyahoga County Public Corruption Investigation

U.S. Attorney’s Office April 20, 2010
  • Northern District of Ohio (216) 622-3600

William J. Edwards, First Assistant United States Attorney in the Northern District of Ohio; C. Frank Figliuzzi, Special Agent in Charge of the Cleveland Division of the FBI; and Jose A. Gonzalez, Special Agent in Charge of the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation Division, today announced that a two-count information was filed charging attorney Joseph P. O’Malley, age 43, of Westlake, Ohio, in connection with the Cuyahoga County public corruption investigation. From January 1, 2008, to December 31, 2009, O’Malley worked for the Auditor’s Office as an independent contractor. O’Malley was an employee of the Cuyahoga County Recorder’s Office, and later the Cuyahoga County Auditor’s Office from March 1997 to April 2004.

The information charges O’Malley with misprision of a felony and with making a false statement in a matter within the jurisdiction of the United States.

The information charges that during the summer and fall of 2006, O’Malley knew that Joseph Gallucci was a candidate for county-wide office, running against an incumbent public official. O’Malley knew in the summer and fall of 2006 that Gallucci’s chance of winning the election was small. O’Malley attended a meeting in August 2006 with the incumbent public official, Gallucci and another public employee in which Gallucci expressed an interest in obtaining a County job after the election. O’Malley knew that in October 2006, Gallucci withdrew from the race. O’Malley knew in November 2006 that the incumbent public official gave Gallucci a County job.

The information further charges that in the spring of 2008, the Cleveland Plain Dealer began investigating patronage in the Auditor’s Office. As part of that investigation, the Plain Dealer requested from the Auditor’s Office the employment files of certain individuals, including Gallucci. The public official requested that O’Malley assist in responding to the Plain Dealer’s requests for information. Specifically, the public official asked O’Malley to review the requested employment applications. In particular, the public official requested that Defendant review Gallucci’s personnel file. Defendant did so, and found it to contain so little information about Gallucci that it appeared Gallucci was not qualified for the position he held. As a result of his review, Defendant asked Gallucci to "complete" his application, which Defendant believed Gallucci then did.

The information specifically charges that from October 2006 to April 29, 2008, O’Malley, having knowledge of the actual commission of a federal felony, to wit, conspiracy to commit bribery concerning programs receiving federal funds, concealed the same by agreeing with the public official to cause the employment application of Joseph Gallucci then on file at the Cuyahoga County Auditor’s Office to be supplemented in response to a media public information request, and did not as soon as possible make known the same to some judge or other person in civil authority under the United States.

The information also charges that on September 26, 2008, O’Malley made false statements to FBI agents conducting the Cuyahoga County corruption investigation. He stated: (1) that he had not asked the public official for any help on his cases; and (2) that his private law practice was limited to representing indigent criminal defendants; well knowing at the time that he made the statements that (1) in two related cases in which O’Malley represented two of the parties, O’Malley had asked the public official to tell a Common Pleas judge to deny motions for summary judgment, that the public official did as requested and had asked the judge to deny the motions for summary judgment, that the judge did deny the motions for summary judgement as requested by the public official and O’Malley, that the judge did so without disclosing to other parties in the litigation that he had denied the motions upon the ex parte request of the public official, and that the judge’s order denying the motions for summary judgment allowed O’Malley to settle the lawsuits on terms favorable to his clients; and (2) his practice was not limited to representing indigent criminal defendants.

The following were charged previously in connection with the Cuyahoga County corruption investigation:

DEFENDANT

ROLE

DATE CHARGED

CASE STATUS

John Kevin Kelley

Former Geographic Information Systems project manager, Cuyahoga County Engineer’s Office; Former President, Parma City School District Board of Education; Principal, J. Kevin Kelley Consulting, LLC

6/12/2009

- Awaiting Sentencing
- Guilty Plea 7/1/2009

Kevin F. Payne

Retired Chief of Staff, Engineer’s Office, Cuyahoga County

6/12/2009

- Awaiting Sentencing
- Guilty Plea 7/1/2009

Daniel P. Gallagher

Retired Chief of Staff, Engineer’s Office, Cuyahoga County; Principal, The Eagle Group

6/12/2009

- Awaiting Sentencing
- Guilty Plea 7/2/2009

Brian Schuman

Former co-executive director, Alternatives Agency

6/12/2009

- Awaiting Sentencing
- Guilty Plea 7/2/2009

Steven Wayne Pumper

Chief Executive Officer, DAS Construction

7/8/2009

- Awaiting Sentencing
- Guilty Plea 7/17/2009
- $3,664.00 payment toward restitution 11/9/2009
- $5,000.00 payment toward restitution 1/5/2010

Dennis Dooley

Principal Office Assistant, Cuyahoga County Auditor’s Office

7/22/2009

- Awaiting Sentencing
- Guilty Plea 9/9/2009

John J. Carroll

Former Vice President of Facilities and Construction Services

8/6/2009

- Awaiting Sentencing
- Guilty Plea 9/9/2009

Nilesh R. Patel

Former Vice President of East West Construction Company

8/6/2009

- Awaiting Sentencing
- Guilty Plea 9/9/2009

Anthony Sinagra

Former principal of AC Sinagra & Associates;Former Mayor of Lakewood, Ohio; Former member of The Ohio Senate

8/13/2009

- Awaiting Sentencing
- Guilty Plea 8/31/2009

Santina Klimkowski

Former elected member of the Maple Heights School Board of Education from 1981 to 2005; Former Department of Appraisal Specialist, Auditor’s Office

9/18/2009

- Awaiting Sentencing
- Guilty Plea 10/2/2009
- $91,859.48 payment toward restitution 1/25/10
- $57,100 Forfeiture Order 3/26/2010

Timothy Armstrong

Attorney, Sole Practitioner

9/18/2009

- Guilty Plea 9/29/2009
- $1.2 million payment toward restitution 12/30/09
- $373,545 payment toward restitution 1/29/10
- Sentenced 2/3/10: 42 months' imprisonment; restitution: $1,573,345 (paid)

Bruce Zaccagnini

Partner, Belcuy Partners

9/18/2009

- Guilty Plea 10/2/09
- $500,000 payment toward restitution 11/2/09
- Sentenced 2/2/2010: 60 months' imprisonment; restitution: $3,215,845

John Valentin

Principal in Stone Design

11/20/2009

- Awaiting Sentencing
- Guilty Plea 12/16/2009

Dinesh Bafna

President of Mont Granite

11/20/2009

- Awaiting Sentencing
- Guilty Plea 12/8/09

Thomas Greco

Retired, Former Agent of MetroHealth Systems

11/23/2009

- Arraignment 11/24/09
- Pled Not Guilty 11/24/09

$1.95 Million

Proceeds from Louis Damiani’s criminal activity

Civil Forfeiture
12/11/2009

- Forfeiture filed 12/11/09

Joseph Gallucci

Former employee of Auditor’s Office

11/22/2009

- Awaiting Sentencing
- Guilty Plea 1/8/2010
- $15,000 payment toward restitution 12/30/09
- $1,055 payment toward restitution 2/3/2010

Nicholas A. Zavarella

Zavarella Brothers Construction

2/24/2010

- Awaiting Sentencing
- Guilty Plea 3/10/10

If convicted, the defendant’s sentence will be determined by the court after review of factors unique to this case, including the defendant’s prior criminal record, if any, the defendant’s role in the offense, and the characteristics of the violation. In all cases the sentence will not exceed the statutory maximum and in most cases it will be less than the maximum.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Ann C. Rowland and Antoinette T. Bacon, following investigation by the Cleveland office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Internal Revenue Service. The investigation is ongoing.

An information is only a charge and is not evidence of guilt. A defendant is entitled to a fair trial in which it will be the government’s burden to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

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