Defendant in Cleveland police officer's killing gets prison sentence for Kipton robbery

A Cuyahoga County woman charged with shooting and killing a Cleveland police officer on New Year's Eve has been sentenced to prison for her role in a 2020 robbery in Kipton. Lorain County Juvenile Court Judge Frank Janik sentenced Tamara McLoyd, 18, of Garfield Heights, to an indefinite sentence of three to four years in prison for complicity to robbery and a firearms charge for helping two alleged accomplices rob a man in his home in October 2020. Janik had sentenced McLoyd to juvenile probation in October with the understanding she could go to adult prison if she violated her probation. But given the opportunity to show the court she could change, McLoyd instead has been linked to a murder, numerous robberies, and other crimes only days after being placed on probation in Lorain County, court records show. In doing so, McLoyd "figuratively spit in the face of the Lorain County Prosecutor's Office and this court," Janik told her. "You cannot be rehabilitated in the juvenile court system." In that case, prosecutors and McLoyd reached a plea agreement in which she pleaded guilty to a lesser charge and agreed to testify against her accomplices. The prosecutor's office still asked Janik to sentence McLoyd to an Ohio Department of Youth Services facility for a term of three to four years. Finding McLoyd to be a low risk to reoffend, Janik sentenced her to probation but labeled her a serious youthful offender. That designation gave him the ability to hold an adult prison sentence over her head if she violated juvenile probation. The juvenile portion of McLoyd's original Lorain County sentence, handed down on Oct. 28, also required her to get mental health treatment, get her GED and find a job. Because of the serious youthful offender label, Cuyahoga County authorities refused to supervise McLoyd's probation, Cuyahoga County Juvenile Court Judge Thomas O'Malley told Janik in a July 2021 letter included in court records. In January, after her arrest in connection with Cleveland police officer Shane Bartek's slaying and multiple robbery charges were made public, Janik ordered Juvenile Court prosecutors to request the court hold a hearing and impose the adult portion of the sentence. The prosecutor's office did not do so, leaving the court "mystified and disappointed," Janik said Thursday. Instead, he used the discretion granted him by Ohio's juvenile justice laws to schedule a hearing. McLoyd allegedly admitted "multiple acts considered a felony offense" to Cleveland police, and the court needs only "clear and convincing evidence" to find she violated her Lorain County probation, Janik said. Her attorney, Michael Towne, objected to Janik's ruling and the way the judge conducted the hearing, calling it "improper" and telling Janik he was "prosecuting his own case." McLoyd has yet to be convicted of any of the charges against her in Cuyahoga County, Towne said. He said the court was "reacting to public pressure" and relying on "a bunch of hearsay arguments" to punish his client. "I think the court is jumping the gun here," Towne said. Janik noted Towne's objections, but said the court was "absolutely going to review what is the clear public record" in the case. Tamara McLoyd's mother, Tasha McLoyd, told the court that no one has taken her daughter's mental health into consideration. Instead, court officials ignored the seriousness of it and the family never received help. Jail is not the place for Tamara McLoyd, her mother said. "I blame both counties," Tasha McLoyd told Janik. "She's got mental health issues that need to be addressed." Attorney Lorie Brobst, a guardian ad litem appointed by the court to look out for Tamara McLoyd's best interests, agreed. Imposing a prison sentence would not be in Tamara McLoyd's best interest, Brobst said. Tamara McLoyd received no supervision or support from Lorain County probation officers after being placed on probation last year or prior to her alleged involvement in Bartek's murder. Additionally, those charges "are just charges," Brobst told the court, and her attorney in the murder case has asked a Cuyahoga County court to suppress any statements Tamara McLoyd made to police following her arrest. Tamara McLoyd declined to make any statements to the court Thursday. Towne told the court he plans to file an appeal. Tamara McLoyd has been in custody in Cuyahoga County for several months on more than $5 million bond, facing multiple charges including robbery, kidnapping, weapons, grand theft and arson from a number of incidents. She has pleaded not guilty in all the cases. Her next pretrial hearing is today in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court in Cleveland. Janik said he would order her returned to the custody of Cuyahoga County in time for that hearing. On Nov. 2, five days after she was sentenced to probation in Lorain County, Tamara McLoyd and two accomplices allegedly robbed a 22-year-old man in Lakewood, robbed Happy's Pizza on Detroit Avenue in Cleveland and robbed a 58-year-old woman in Cleveland Heights, according to Cuyahoga County police and prosecutors. Authorities said her alleged crime spree culminated in the New Year's Eve shooting death of Bartek, a 25-year-old off-duty Cleveland police officer with two years on the force. Authorities said Tamara McLoyd tried to carjack Bartek before shooting him twice. Authorities said she admitted to the murder following her arrest. Contact Dave O'Brien at (440) 329-7129 or dobrien@chroniclet.com. Follow him on Twitter @daveobrienCT.