Sheriff's Office serves search warrants on Lorain County 911, Administration Building in criminal probe

ELYRIA — Investigators from Lorain County Sheriff Jack Hall's Public Corruption Unit served search warrants Thursday at both the County Administration Building in downtown Elyria and the Lorain County 911 center on Burns Road as part of an ongoing criminal investigation. The monthslong investigation is related to potential fraud in consulting contracts between the county and at least one former vendor, officials said Thursday. County commissioners, with whom Hall has been feuding, saw Thursday's events differently. They accused Hall of misusing taxpayer funds to fight them over control of Lorain County 911, of playing politics and of retaliation for them cutting $1.8 million from his 2026 budget. "This is Jack Hall showboating," Commissioner David Moore said Thursday. He also questioned the timing of the search warrants, which were served six days ahead of the May 5 primary in which Moore ally and fellow Commissioner Jeff Riddell faces a primary challenge from Will Schlechter. "Think about it," Moore told a reporter. "The timing of it." Hall said the criminal investigation had nothing to do politics, nor with an ongoing civil lawsuit over control of Lorain County 911 operations he filed against commissioners in March. "We do not want to interweave politics with police work," he said at a news conference at his office on Thursday. Hall also called it "very premature" to suggest any criminal wrongdoing on the part of the commissioners. Search warrants served At least seven marked sheriff's cruisers were parked outside Lorain County 911 Thursday morning when a reporter went to the scene. Two were blocking the entrances to the parking lot. Another cruiser was parked in front of the County Administration Building most of the day. Officials said the searches would continue into Thursday evening. The search warrants are sealed for the time being, they said, but a copy of the warrant reviewed by The Chronicle-Telegram states that the Lorain County Sheriff's Office is investigating crimes that may include alleged records tampering, falsification, unauthorized use of property, "using sham legal process" and disruption of public services. It seeks "evidence dealing with or demonstration how the Lorain County commissioners, their employees, consultants or designees utilized the information systems, networks" and other systems at Lorain County 911 to violate rules of the FBI Criminal Justice Information Services, or CJIS, and "disrupt, interrupt or impair the functions of any police, fire, EMS or governmental operations." The warrant seeks digital storage devices, computer equipment and other media that can store information, as well as information related to FCC radio licenses; the Ohio Multi-Agency Radio Communication System, or MARCS, which is part of a multiyear ongoing dispute between commissioners, county first responders and the subject of an ongoing lawsuit by Cleveland Communications Inc. against the county; It also seeks computerized and digital account information for commissioners Moore, Jeff Riddell and Marty Gallagher; their current and former administrative assistants; County Administrator Jeff Armbruster and Deputy County Administrator Karen Perkins; county IT Director Todd Sharkey; 911 Director Kurt Scholl; county Facilities Manager Dan Gross; former 911 director Rob Berner and other county employees. The warrant, dated Tuesday, is signed by Common Pleas Judge Christopher Rothgery. Investigators hold news conference At a news conference Thursday afternoon at the Sheriff's Office, Maj. Steve Scharschmidt of the Major Crimes Task Force and Inspector Mike Massie of the Public Corruption Unit disclosed limited information on what they were looking for when they served the search warrants. Massie said investigators sought paper and digital records related to "a variety of different contracts that pertain to the county and county 911 center," but declined to "label a target" or say specifically what contracts, vendors or individuals are being investigated. "The bulk of it is digital," Scharschmidt said, and includes records dating back at least "several years." Scharschmidt said the investigation has been going on for four to six months and was in the information collection stage. What that information showed would determine his agency's next steps, he said. "We'll do our best to make sure we leave no stone unturned," said Massie, a former FBI agent who investigated public corruption in Cuyahoga County before going to work for Hall. Scharschmidt said all county employees cooperated with investigators. While search warrants are a common tool of criminal investigators, "what was not common in this case was the locations pertaining to the search warrants," he said. "We took great time and effort to ensure that our business did not affect the daily operations at these locations," Scharschmidt said, adding that investigators had "nothing but respect" for the county employees working at both locations. Officials said one of the aspects of the investigation is whether a former county vendor improperly accessed personal information. "We want to make sure that doesn't happen," Hall said. "This is business. This is police work. That's what we're doing," Scharschmidt said. Other county officials with offices in the County Administration Building said Thursday they had no knowledge of the search warrants even as they were being served. Lorain County Prosecutor Tony Cillo said his office has no current role in the investigation. He did provide tech support for Sheriff's investigators and his office proofread the warrants, he said. Striking Lorain County Job and Family Services workers picketing outside the County Administration Building said they were hopeful the raids turned up some evidence of corruption. They are 10 weeks into a work stoppage over wages, healthcare and staffing concerns and have been without a contract since September. One striking worker arrived at the pickets Thursday morning carrying a large bag of popcorn. Her phone contained a play list of Taylor Swift songs she said were a good soundtrack for the fight between Hall and the commissioners. Commissioners' statement The commissioners released a joint statement Thursday on the search warrants. "Utilizing the criminal justice process to obtain materials tied to a civil matter raises serious concerns about the appropriate use of law enforcement authority and taxpayer-funded resources," they wrote. Former sheriff Phil Stammitti transferred authority over 911 to commissioners in 2011, they wrote. Commissioners wrote that Hall's approach "represents a troubling misuse of public resources" as "County deputies should be focused on protecting residents and addressing real public safety concerns, not being diverted into matters that are already being addressed through the civil court system." Commissioners repeated claims that Hall is only acting out of retribution for budget cuts that happened after voters rejected a sales tax increase to help fund the Sheriff's Office and free up money for a new county jail. "Taxpayers expect accountability, transparency, and responsible use of their dollars," commissioners wrote. "We will continue to defend those principles and address this matter through the appropriate legal channels." Hall said Thursday the 911 transfer happened when there were three different commissioners and a different sheriff "who is not this sheriff." "We have to follow the law," Hall said. Sheriff of Lorain County, Ohio, v. Lorain County, Ohio, Board of Commissioners Lorain County 911 is funded by levy dollars, the county general fund and cell phone user fees. Its current format was created when the Sheriff's Office and county dispatch merged in 2011. Hall has said state law gives him operational control of countywide public safety communications. He sued commissioners for that control in March, alleging they jeopardized public safety when they refused him access to 911. Hall's lawsuit accused commissioners of interfering with the ongoing criminal investigation into a former 911 vendor who allegedly had improper access to secure law enforcement databases. Dispatchers at 911 have access to the Law Enforcement Automated Data System, or LEADS, and others. public and require specific permission or certification. Hall alleged that the county refused to turn over information when LEADS officials asked him for an audit. Hall also restricted the former vendor's access in November as part of the ongoing criminal investigation. He alleged in his lawsuit that after he did, Commissioner Jeff Riddell contacted him and demanded Hall give that access back. All six judges in the Lorain County Common Pleas Court's General Division recused themselves from the case April 9 to avoid any appearance of impropriety. Visiting Judge Thomas Teodosio was appointed April 14 to hear the case. Hall is "just basically using the criminal justice system to help him with his civil case against us, that's all," Moore said. "We've got lawyers on it." Those lawyers filed a 43-page request for a temporary restraining order against Hall on Thursday. It alleges "an extraordinary and unprecedented abuse of the justice system," unlawful searches of county offices by Hall and seeks to prevent the sheriff and his deputies from analyzing or sharing the records they seized. Hall's attorneys have yet to respond. Contact Dave O'Brien at (440) 329-7129 or dobrien@chroniclet.com.