Plea deal raises questions of fairness

Lorain County Common Pleas Judge Melissa Kobasher was right to reject a plea deal that would have allowed a former Lorain police officer to avoid a criminal record for her alleged lawbreaking. The deal, which Assistant County Prosecutor Rick Raley and defense lawyers for former Lt. Tabitha Angello presented to Kobasher on Friday, reeked of preferential treatment. In exchange for Angello's plea to felony charges of tampering with records and unauthorized use of the law enforcement automated database system and a misdemeanor charge of obstructing official business, prosecutors would have dropped felony charges of tampering with evidence. Not coincidentally, the tampering with evidence charges would have made Angello ineligible to participate in the diversion program, Kobasher said. The judge also said a presentence report was completed in anticipation of the deal without her knowledge. Angello allegedly engaged in inappropriate relationships with subordinate officers and a suspected drug dealer, including while on duty, an internal Lorain police investigation found. She allegedly misused a police database and deleted 2.2 gigabytes of data from her department-issued cell phone just before it was seized by another officer. She resigned in lieu of termination in November. Had Angello received diversion, all of the charges against her would have been dropped once she completed the program. As part of the deal, she would have surrendered her Ohio peace officer certification, ending her authorization to work as a police officer in the state. The loss of her career — Angello was a respected member of the Lorain Police Department for 16 years — would indeed be a blow to her professionally. Criminal charges, however, have derailed many careers over the years, and the lingering impact of a criminal record can harm job prospects for the rest of a defendant's life. Diversion programs are important because they offer nonviolent first-time defendants a way to resolve their criminal cases without the stain of a permanent conviction on their record. In Lorain County, at least, they appear to be underused as a mechanism for giving defendants a second chance. Kobasher said an offer of diversion was an "infrequent opportunity." That raises the question of why Angello was deserving of a break when others weren't. In defending the deal with Angello, county Prosecutor J.D. Tomlinson said that since taking office in January 2021, he had previously approved 39 nonviolent, first-time offenders for the diversion program, an increase of 178 percent from the final two years of former county Prosecutor Dennis Will's tenure. "In the past, this Office has granted diversionary opportunities to offenders from every walk of life," Tomlinson wrote. The examples that Tomlinson gave, however, weren't of a butcher or a baker or a candlestick maker. Instead, he cited the cases of former Elyria Police Officer Patrick Jama and former South Amherst Fire Chief Ronald Schmitz, who both received diversion for their crimes. Tomlinson also said his office had rejected 23 other diversion requests from defendants, including former county Sheriff's Deputy Dylan Hazzard, who stole thousands of dollars from the home of a deceased Columbia Township man while on duty. Tomlinson said the victim's family objected to granting diversion to Hazzard, who is serving a six-month prison sentence. Raley, the assistant prosecutor, said administrators in the Lorain Police Department had approved Angello's acceptance into the diversion program. That's striking because over the years the department and its union have earned a reputation for complaining when judges are, in their view, too lenient on defendants. While Angello's alleged conduct represented a betrayal of her fellow officers, it went far beyond that. Kobasher questioned whether the public was victimized as well. The answer to that question is yes. If the allegations against Angello are proven in court, it would mean she not only broke the law, but her oath to serve and protect the public. Despite the enormous power they wield, police officers, like everyone else, make mistakes. Sometimes those mistakes cross into breaking the law. Serving in law enforcement, however, doesn't mitigate criminal misconduct. Cops shouldn't get breaks that are only sparingly given to other defendants.