Cincinnati City Councilman Wendell Young has been indicted on a single charge stemming from a three-year-old texting scandal.
A Hamilton County grand jury on Thursday charged Young with tampering with records, a third-degree felony punishable by up to three years in prison.
In a statement, Patrick Hanley, the special prosecutor who has been investigating Young for more than a year, said that between January and October of 2018, Young knowingly and with the purpose to defraud, destroyed text messages that belonged to a government entity.
Hanley told The Enquirer this marks the end of his investigation into the Gang of Five case. None of the other four council members accused of illegally texting with each other will be criminally charged.
Cincinnati council member indicted for deleting texts
April 15, 2021
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CINCINNATI (AP) A Cincinnati city council member has been indicted on a tampering with records charge for allegedly deleting text messages related to an ongoing investigation, the latest council member to face wrongdoing allegations.
A Hamilton County grand jury handed up the indictment against Wendell Young, 75, on Wednesday.
The Cincinnati Enquirer reports that the charge stems from an investigation related to Mayor John Cranley s efforts to fire then-City Manager Harry Black in March 2018. Only the city council can fire the city manager. Young and four other council members texted together about keeping Black and regaining power they believed Cranley had usurped.
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Cincinnati s Charter Committee – the independent political party that has fashioned itself to be the watchdog for good government in the city – is going back to its roots.
After 2020, which saw three members of the nine-member Cincinnati City council indicted on federal corruption charges – something unprecedented in the nearly 100 years of Cincinnati s council-manager form of government – the Charter Committee saw an opportunity to once again become a major player in city politics, doing so by re-establishing itself as the reform party.
Thus, the Charter Committee – which plans to run a full slate of nine council candidates in the November election – released an actual Charter Platform. Party platforms became as rare as hen s teeth in the last few decades of city politics. But Charter has one that its as-yet-unnamed slate of candidates will run on this fall.
Former Cincinnati Council member Tamaya Dennard s date to report to prison extended Share Updated: 6:32 PM EST Feb 25, 2021 WLWT Digital Staff Share Updated: 6:32 PM EST Feb 25, 2021
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Show Transcript DEATHS. MIKE: IN OTHER NEWS TONIGHT, FORMER CINCINNATI LAWMAKER AND CONVICTED FELON TAMAYA DENNARD SAYS SHE IS TAKING A GLASS HALF-FULL APPROACH TO THE REST OF HER LIFE. HER FIRST REMARKS SINCE BEING SENTENCED TO FEDERAL PRISON CAME TODAY IN AN INTERVIEW WITH WLWT NEWS 5’S JOHN LONDON WHO IS LIVE AT CITY HALL, WHERE SHE ONCE SERVED. JOHN: SHE SERVED HERE FOR MORE THAN TWO YEARS, UNTIL HER ARREST LAST FEBRUARY. SHE HAS HER EYES ON THE FUTURE, WHATEVER THAT HOLDS. BUT TOOK TIME TODAY TO SET A COUPLE OF THINGS STRAIGHT ABOUT HER DOWNFALL THIS PAST YEAR. IN AGREEING TO AN INTERVIEW VIA ZOOM, TAMAYA DENNARD SAID IT WAS IMPORTANT TO HER, AS SHE LOOKS BACK ON HER TIME AT COUNCIL, TO PUBLICLY STATE HOW DEEPLY SHE REGRETS LETTING