Although the Cincinnati Police Department spent about 233 days investigating allegations against State Rep. Dale Mallory lodged by the West End Community Council, no additional records exist besides the 14 pages previously given to CityBeat, an assistant police chief said today.
During a telephone interview, Lt. Col. Richard Janke, the department's second-in-command, elaborated on the process used in the investigation. Janke responded to CityBeat's concerns that the newspaper might not have been given the complete file on the investigation when it submitted a public-records request in early June. At the time, police supervisors gave the newspaper a two-page incident closure report and 12 pages containing mostly copies of cancelled checks.
Because several West End residents who lodged the complaint against Mallory said police interviewed them in sessions that lasted an hour or longer and that the interviews were recorded, the paper asked whether any transcripts existed.
“There are no transcripts,” Janke said. “Oftentimes, when there was no real dispute over the facts, there are no transcripts made.”
Despite Janke’s remarks, Mallory contested at least one crucial fact during a June 14 interview with CityBeat. He alleged that a copy of a cancelled check for $1,119.19 containing his signature that community council members gave to police was a forgery. The check cleared out the group’s bank account months after Mallory had been impeached as the council’s president and removed from office.
“That thing was counterfeit, forged, faked,” said Mallory, who is brother of Cincinnati Mayor Mark Mallory. “I have no idea where they got that from.”
But the police report stated: “Both Dale Mallory and Esther Williams (another impeached council officer) went to the National City Bank and withdrew all the funds from the WECC account. They used a counter check signed by both of them made payable to cash, then obtained a cashier’s check.”
Janke replied today that the relevant facts in the case were that the money was taken and most of it — $1,000 — was given to the YMCA for an art project. The YMCA returned the money, and none of the funds were used for Mallory’s personal gain, the assistant chief added. (The remaining money was given to Marquicia Jones-Woods to buy boots for a local drill team and already was spent.)
“There was nothing in contention here,” Janke said. “There’s no doubt that the money ended up with the YMCA and was subsequently returned.”
Once the investigation was launched, police saw that it was a fairly straightforward case, Janke said.
“It’s not a particularly complex matter,” he said. “Criminal culpability was decidedly lacking.”
Also, CityBeat asked if any correspondence or document was forwarded to the Hamilton County Prosecutor’s Office that it used to base a decision to decline prosecution or if officers merely spoke to an assistant prosecutor.
“As you surmised, it was just a verbal presentation,” Janke told CityBeat.
When CityBeat interviewed Mallory two weeks ago, he said he was never notified that the investigation was completed, although police reports state the probe was closed in February. That’s not unusual, Janke said.
“We don’t routinely advise, necessarily, targets of investigations that a matter is closed; it’s usually the complainants,” he said. Janke quickly corrected himself, adding, “In hindsight, I’m not sure it’s fair to call him a target. He was a subject of an investigation.”
In fact, the terminology used on the police closure report lists Mallory as “suspect/arrestee no. 1” and Williams as “suspect/arrestee no. 2.”
Begun in June 2006, the police investigation was part of a rocky year for Mallory that also saw his impeachment as community council president amid revelations about his secret lobbying for City Link, a controversial project proposed for the West End neighborhood, after he initially told the council he wasn’t connected to the project.
In May 2006, Mallory wrote checks totaling $1,119 that emptied the West End Community Council’s bank account, more than three months after his impeachment and a few weeks after his lawsuit seeking reinstatement was dropped. Mallory had said the money was for projects the council authorized in February 2006, but group leaders said no vote was ever taken and alleged Mallory’s act was retaliation for his ouster.
The police investigation took seven months to complete, and at one time two lieutenants and a sergeant were assigned to the case. When CityBeat inquired in mid-January about the probe’s status, a police spokesman said a detective told him the matter was “complex,” adding he “couldn’t even give me an estimation on when they’ll be bringing that to a resolution.”
Subsequent police records show the investigation already was completed at the time and had been turned over to the Hamilton County Prosecutor’s Office, which already had declined prosecution Jan. 6; the Police Department formally closed the case Feb. 7.
Asked about the seeming discrepancy and differing police remarks about the case’s complexity, Janke replied, “I don’t think those are contradictory statements. … I’m talking about the basic fact pattern, once it was all revealed.”
West End residents who filed the complaint that sparked the investigation believe police purposely delayed the inquiry because it involved the mayor’s brother and didn’t want the publicity before last November’s election, when Dale Mallory was a candidate for state office.
— Kevin Osborne
(Photo: Frontier.cincinnati.com)
I guess anytime a stolen item is recovered, it negates the crime that has been committed. Someone should tell all of those convicts in prison, who don't have a mayor as a brother; that they are not guilty of anything.
He most definitely received personal political gain, from his crime, as he was running for the 32nd state rep seat, under the guise of still being the West End president at the time.
Mike Allen would have prosecuted his sorry ass. What's wrong with Joe Deters?
Posted by: Jail For Dale | June 28, 2007 at 08:34 AM
They lied to you Kevin and we both know it.
It was an ongoing investigation and a "complex" matter when you asked them about it. But public records tell the tale that the investigation was already over when they were feeding you that line.
Now the party line is that it was not complex at all, but straightforward with no facts in dispute. Wonder why it took 7 months.
This doesn't make the CPD look very good.
They threw away every bit of evidence that was given to them. According to the documents, they didn't even take an official statement from Dale Mallory. That is quite an investigation.
Maybe they are in the wrong line of business. The CPD should get out of politics.
Posted by: MD | July 02, 2007 at 01:41 AM