EAST CLEVELAND, Ohio (WJW) — A total of 16 current and former East Cleveland police officers now face charges of public corruption and civil rights violations, Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Michael O’Malley announced Wednesday.
“Make no mistake: There has been a cancer growing in the East Cleveland Police Department,” he said during a Wednesday media briefing. “We are doing our best to remove every tentacle of that cancer so that this department can rebuild and grow, to put itself in a position to hire officers who enforce the law as well as follow the law.
“This is a sad day for all law enforcement.”
Three indictments handed up Wednesday morning bring a multitude of new charges against 11 officers, seven of whom are newly indicted:
Ian McInnes, a current East Cleveland detective
Nicholas Foti, who has since resigned from East Cleveland
Tristan Homan, currently an Elyria officer after leaving the East Cleveland Department
Sgt. John Hartman, a current East Cleveland officer
Laurice Mans, a former East Cleveland officer who’s since been terminated
Brian Parks, a current East Cleveland officer
Tre Dehart-Robinson, currently an East Cleveland officer
Charges include:
Felonious assault
Interfering with civil rights
Dereliction of duty
Telecommunications fraud
Tampering with evidence
Tampering with records
Obstruction of justice
Disrupting public service
Foti and Parks were also separately indicted on several felony charges.
All seven are due for arraignment the morning of Monday, March 28, court records show.
[Editor’s Note: The video below is a previous story that details some of the charges alleged against current and former East Cleveland Police officers.]
Prosecutors on Wednesday showed graphic and violent video evidence of the officers’ alleged misconduct, including footage showing the officers beating suspects during arrests.
“The actions we’ve witnessed here today — they’re an illustration of the task that was put before us and it is a task that all the members of our agencies take very seriously,” O’Malley said. “All we can do for the victim at this point is continue to vigorously pursue justice on their behalf to right these wrongs.”
There are 17 total victims across 31 incidents from June 2018 to July 2022, prosecutors said.
Homan was placed on leave from Elyria Police Department immediately following prosecutors’ Wednesday briefing, according to a news release from Safety Services Director Matt Lundy. A follow-up statement sent a little more than an hour after that stated Homan was fired “after direct conversations” with county prosecutors and the FBI.
“The incident leading to the indictment is disturbing and shows behavior not acceptable to our department,” reads Lundy’s initial statement. “The city had no knowledge of the incident or any investigation prior to his hire in October of 2022.”
Four other East Cleveland officers have been previously charged and are now facing new charges. They have since been placed on leave:
Officer Tyler Mundson
Investigator Kyle Wood
Officer Brian Stoll
Officer Daniel Toomer
Five other East Cleveland officers were previously indicted, including former police chief Scott Gardner and officers Von Harris, Alfonso Cole, Demarcko Johnson and Willie Warner-Sims.
The department has a history of finding itself on the wrong side of the law.
Just last year, the FOX 8 I-Team found two East Cleveland police officers indicted for theft in office, interfering with civil rights, tampering with evidence and dereliction of duty.
That case came just one week after the police chief there was indicted in an unrelated case.
In another unrelated case, officers allegedly sold fake police reports for cash.
Authorities have established a hotline to report allegations of abuse or misconduct by East Cleveland police officers. To file a report, call 216-583-5343.
During an emergency meeting Wednesday, Mayor Brandon King announced that the county is helping gather resources so the police department can continue serving the community.
