Federal lawsuit alleges bribery, extortion in Lorain County radio contract controversy

A federal lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Cleveland by a former county vendor on Thursday accuses two Lorain County commissioners and their county administrator of bribery, extortion and racketeering during the process of canceling its contract to provide county first responders with emergency radios. The Lorain County Board of Commissioners, Republican commissioners David Moore and Jeff Riddell and County Administrator Jeff Armbruster were sued by Cleveland Communications Inc. of Parma, according to copy of the lawsuit reviewed by The Chronicle-Telegram. CCI had dismissed a months-old prior lawsuit against the board in Lorain County Common Pleas Court earlier in the day. The new lawsuit alleges "a course of unlawful and corrupt conduct involving a contract to upgrade a countywide emergency radio communications system for Lorain County to be paid for by millions of dollars in federal grant money." Read the complaint at tinyurl.com/3y38d4y5 Chief Assistant Lorain County Prosecutor Dan Petticord, who reviewed the new lawsuit Thursday, said board policy is not to comment on pending litigation. "Another waste of taxpayer money for a frivolous lawsuit," Moore wrote in a text message to a Chronicle-Telegram reporter on Thursday. "We will vigorously defend against it." Moore claimed CCI dropped the lawsuit in common pleas court "because the decisions were not going their way," then filed anew in federal court. Riddell said he couldn't comment on "this obviously frivolous lawsuit" that he hadn't seen, and questioned how a reporter saw a copy before the commissioners did. The lawsuit is a public record. Hung said she hadn't seen the lawsuit and was only informed it had been filed as she walked out of her office at the end of the day Thursday. "I was told CCI's initial lawsuit was dismissed, then was informed at the end of the day that it had been refiled in federal court," she said. Armbruster said he hadn't seen the lawsuit Thursday and couldn't comment on it. A former North Ridgeville safety service director, Armbruster started as county administrator on Feb. 21 — three months after the contract was awarded and almost six weeks after it was rescinded. New lawsuit The civil lawsuit filed Thursday makes a number of serious allegations against current and former county officials. "Despite the overwhelming support of police and fire emergency responders for CCI to upgrade the radio system with L3 Harris radio products, the co-conspirators and their confederates schemed to steer the contract to Motorola Solutions for reasons other than the public good," according to the lawsuit. "Their corrupt methods included trying to extort a second county commissioner into voting for Motorola and against CCI, and making false allegations to initiate criminal investigations against the commissioner and CCI which they leaked to the media and in public meetings," the lawsuit alleges. It further alleges violations of the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations, or RICO Act, against Moore and Armbruster. The racketeering claim involves allegations that former county administrator Tom Williams, MARCS Field Operations Manager Dick Miller at the Ohio Department of Administrative Services, and Beachwood police officer Dana Gollner "conspired to participate and participated directly and indirectly" in trying to "corruptly control the awarding of contracts and the expenditure of state and federal funds for corrupt purposes ... other than the public good." According to the lawsuit, Gollner allegedly met with and told CCI staff in June 2021 "that he could gain the support of all three county commissioners if CCI paid Gollner a 'lobbying' fee of 10 percent of the multimillion-dollar contract." At that meeting, Gollner allegedly provided CCI with confidential communications from Motorola and CCI to commissioners "to demonstrate his real access to Moore, Williams and other decision makers in Lorain County." CCI declined to pay the fee, so Gollner allegedly told CCI to submit a higher bid "because there were a number of people to get paid and the higher bid would be accepted." The lawsuit alleges that Gollner solicited what amounted to a bribe "at the direction of Moore and other members of the conspiracy to violate the RICO statutes." Gollner could not be reached for comment Thursday. Moore, Armbruster and Williams and others then tried to control Hung's vote "through acts of intimidation," including threatening to expose her extramarital affair with former Lorain County 911 director Harry Williamson, the lawsuit alleges. Moore and Armbruster allegedly threatened Hung during a phone call in July or August 2021 "if she did not support the MARCS System and deny support to CCI," whose L3 Harris radio system won the contract from Hung and Lundy in December. That's extortion, CCI alleges. When Hung "failed to submit to the threat," her affair was exposed in August 2021, Williamson was fired and Moore called for Hung's resignation. Having not yet seen the lawsuit, Hung said she couldn't comment on those statements. Williams said Thursday that he has been out of county government for nearly two years and claimed Hung is "continuing to make false statements against me." "Her hatred and continued retaliation will be exposed in court," Williams wrote in a statement to a Chronicle reporter. Commissioners parted ways with Williams and taxpayers had to foot the bill for his wrongful termination lawsuit, Hung said. "We have moved on" with new county administrators since Williams was fired, she said. "I don't find relevance in answering or rebutting these types of statements." Lundy and Hung fired Williams in August 2021, overriding Moore's vote of "hell no" to firing him. Williams then won a $450,000 out-of-court settlement from the county in 2022 after suing Hung and Lundy for wrongful termination in federal court in 2021. Williams himself sued Hung, Williamson, and Williamson's attorney Brian Bardwell in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court in November, alleging extortion, perjury and other claims. The case was removed to U.S. District Court in Cleveland in February, then sent back to Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court at Williams' request by U.S. District Judge Donald Nugent in April, according to federal court records. Moore and others then sent letters to the Lorain County Sheriff's Office and the Ohio Attorney General's office seeking an investigation into Hung's ties to the radio project, according to the lawsuit. Late in 2022, Moore allegedly lied and told Riddell that Hung and CCI had an "improper relationship" that made her steer the radios contract to the company, the lawsuit alleges. That caused CCI to be investigated, "defamatory stories to be published, and defendant Riddell to vote to rescind the contract" in January, according to the lawsuit. Moore also allegedly obstructed the sheriff's office investigation and the defendants "did corruptly persuade the Lorain County Prosecutor's Office not to assist the investigation," allegedly told county employees not to comply with public records requests by the sheriff and allegedly persuaded witnesses not to be interviewed as part of the sheriff's investigation, according to the lawsuit. The lawsuit also alleges that Moore, Armbruster and Riddell denied CCI its due process and equal protection in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment and breach of contract by the Board of Commissioners when the board rescinded the radio deal, causing monetary damages of more than $1 million. The lawsuit further demands monetary damages against all the defendants, and that CCI's contract be reinstituted and paid by the county. Background Cleveland Communications Inc. won a nearly $7.7 million contract to provide Lorain County emergency first responders with a new radio system in December, based on a 2-0 vote by former commissioner Matt Lundy, a Democrat, and Hung, a Republican. Moore and Riddell voted to rescind the contract on Jan. 9. The vote was 2-1 to rescind, with Hung voting to keep the contract with CCI. The vote angered Lorain County fire chiefs, the Lorain County Deputies Association, Sheriff Phil Stammitti and multiple elected officials in cities including Elyria and Lorain who had been banking on the county to help them replace their aging radios with federal American Rescue Plan Act money. Moore and Riddell alleged, without providing evidence, that the contract was improperly bid and that there were backdoor deals being done. They called for investigations into the matter. CCI's bid was the only one received. Both CCI and Motorola Solutions, the vendor for the state-approved MARCS radio system, requested and received a 14-day deadline extension. Motorola did not end up submitting a bid. A second bid by Avon-based Vasu Communications was incomplete. The deputies union filed a health grievance with Stammitti, and CCI filed an 18-page lawsuit in common pleas court in January. That lawsuit was dismissed Thursday, the same day the new federal lawsuit was filed. In the original lawsuit, CCI called the county's decision to rescind the contract "unconstitutional, illegal, arbitrary, capricious, unreasonable and unsupported by the law" and evidence. Its attorneys argued the county was required to give 60 days' notice before terminating the contract. In a ruling dismissing part of CCI's lawsuit in common pleas court in May, Visiting Judge Thomas Pokorny ruled that commissioners' decision to rescind the radio communications system contract "did not afford CCI the right of relief of an administrative appeal" under Ohio law. Contact Dave O'Brien at (440) 329-7129 or dobrien@chroniclet.com.