The Plain Dealer, cleveland.com
BYLINE: Rachel Dissell, The Plain Dealer
Indictment for Grand Theft (.pdf)
Cuyahoga County, OH
Justice Center in downtown Cleveland – Cuyahoga County Sheriff’s Capt. Michael J. Jackson faced charges he stole money from the office’s evidence room. (Marvin Fong, The Plain Dealer)
CLEVELAND, Ohio — A high-ranking Cuyahoga County Sheriff’s official faces charges that he stole tens of thousands of dollars from the department’s evidence room.
Capt. Michael J. Jackson is accused of taking more than $50,000 in cash seized from crime suspects and altering property receipt records to cover his trail, according to a 12-count grand jury indictment released today. (See indictment here or below in document viewer.)
Jackson, 44, of Parma, was arrested Tuesday afternoon and could not immediately be reached for comment. His attorney, Larry Zukerman, said Jackson has honorably served the office for decades.
“Many of his contemporaries trust and respect him as a good man who helped rid the county of crime,” Zukerman said. “Captain Jackson looks forward to a trial in this case and his ultimate vindication.”
An arraignment is scheduled on Feb. 4.
Assistant County Prosecutor Paul Soucie called Jackson the Benedict Arnold of law enforcement. “He went over to the dark side,” Soucie, supervisor of the Economic Crime Unit, said in a news release.
“He stole from suspects, cheated the public and betrayed the trust of his fellow officers,” Soucie said.
The felony charges, which cover a period from December 2011 through November 2012, include grand theft, theft in office and tampering with records.
The investigation started after Sheriff Frank Bova was appointed to office last March and ordered audits of each of the department’s divisions — starting with the evidence room.
The findings of that audit triggered the department to investigate with the help of the state Bureau of Criminal Investigation.
Jackson survived multiple leadership changes in the office in recent years. He had duties, including overseeing law enforcement operations.
Sheriff Frank Bova could not be reached for comment Tuesday. The prosecutor’s office release quoted him saying, “The Cuyahoga County Sheriff’s Department cannot and will not tolerate any level of public corruption.”
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International Association for Property and Evidence
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