Young pleads not guilty to tampering with evidence, waives first court appearance
Tony Mirones | WCPO
CINCINNATI. Aug. 24, 2016. Cincinnati City Councilman Wendell Young speaks at a special session of City Council.
and last updated 2021-04-30 08:36:09-04
CINCINNATI â Cincinnati City Council member Wendell Young pleaded not guilty Thursday to a tampering with evidence charge connected to the Gang of Five scandal.
On April 15, a grand jury indicted Young on the felony charge connected to the âGang of Fiveâ â a group of council members who broke the law by conducting public business in private messages during 2018. The group consisted of Young and fellow Democrats P.G. Sittenfeld, Greg Landsman, Tamaya Dennard and Chris Seelbach. All admitted they had texted and emailed each other about city business, but Ohioâs Open Meetings Act requires meetings of public bodies to be accessible to the public.
Councilman Wendell Young waives appearance in court
Cincinnati Councilman Wendell Young waived his appearance in court for his arraignment Friday.
Young pleaded not guilty to felony tampering with records charge Thursday and was released on his own recognizance.
He is next scheduled to appear before Hamilton County Common Pleas Judge Robert Ruehlman on May 12.
Young, a Democrat, was indicted earlier this month and is facing up to three years in prison.
Judge Ruehlman presided over that case as well, which involved Young, Greg Landsman, P.G. Sittenfeld, Chris Seelbach and Tamaya Dennard.
A settlement was reached in the case, and in the final hearing, Ruehlman scolded the councilmembers and said they should all resign.
Cincinnati City Councilman Wendell Young entered a plea of not guilty on Thursday.
Young, a Democrat, was indicted earlier this month with the felony tampering charge and is facing 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.
Last week, Hanley told Fox 19 he plans to ask the Ohio Supreme Court to initiate suspension proceedings against Young.
Under state law, Ohio Supreme Court Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor would then appoint a panel of judges to review evidence in the case and decide whether to suspend Young.
Jay Hanselman / WVXU
So how did Cincinnati end up with the council-manager form of government, where a professional city manager runs the day-to-day operations and a nine-member council sets policy?
It was a case of political bossism gone haywire in the 1920s that pushed Cincinnati into this relatively new, clean and efficient form of government – one that had little hint of scandal or corruption until 2020, when no less than three council members were indicted on federal corruption charges.
There was a period for over 40 years in the late 19th century and early 20th century when many of Cincinnati s citizens seemed willing to close their eyes and pretend they didn t see the corruption of the city s Republican political bosses.
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.