TOLEDO, Ohio – A business owner, seeking to stave off opposition to his internet cafes, went to Toledo’s highest offices for help.
He quickly found it for a price.
The owner met City Councilman Tyrone Riley in a restaurant parking lot and handed Riley $5,000 in cash, money the FBI says was used to bribe Riley for his support.
But it was hardly a smooth transaction. Some of the bills fell during the exchange, causing Riley to scramble to pick up the cash, the FBI said. Fearing a parking-lot camera might capture the deal, Riley returned the money and drove away, the agency said.
The incident became public Tuesday as the FBI arrested Riley and three City Council colleagues, Yvonne Harper, Larry Sykes and Gary Johnson, on bribery charges following a two-year investigation. Toledo attorney Keith Mitchell also stands accused of helping to funnel thousands of dollars in bribes to Harper.
The FBI’s portrayal of Riley attempting to grab the money off the ground was more than an embarrassment. It underscored how he and his colleagues used their offices to seek out bribes in a series of clumsy attempts that lacked foresight and sophistication, according to a 40-page FBI affidavit filed in U.S. District Court in Toledo.
The allegations have left the city reeling, as authorities accused a third of Toledo’s council members with corruption. Many in the city quickly called for the four to resign.
“This is so incredibly sad,” said Catherine Turcer, the executive director of the government watchdog group, Common Cause Ohio. “We’re not talking about a lot of money. Our democracy deserves so much more. The people of Toledo deserve so much more.”
The arrests left some residents with a critical impression: If the allegations are true, how could the four become so emboldened that they would forfeit their careers for such a small price?
Harper, for instance, talked openly from City Hall offices about the need for cash in exchange for help, according to the affidavit.
Others demanded money and described attempts at hiding the bribes, whether through friends or in campaign contributions, the affidavit said. And, despite their efforts, they didn’t get rich, as most of the gifts, campaign contributions and bribes were $5,000 or less, according to the FBI affidavit.
“I looked up to these people,” said Khalil Smidi, of Toledo, as he sipped his morning coffee Wednesday outside his bar and restaurant, Chevy’s Place. “They are the people who run this city. What does this say to me? That whenever I need something, I have to pay $1,000 to someone?”
Yvonne Harper, a member of Toledo City Council, seeks out a supporter Tuesday. [The Toledo Blade photo, via the Associated Press]
The origins
The FBI handles public corruption in much the same way it takes on drug dealers: From the ground up, with a motivated informant.
The case developed soon after Feb. 15, 2018, when an inner-city owner of gas stations and grocery stores, not identified in court documents, was arrested and accused of being in the United States illegally.
The owner later began working with the FBI as an informant and admitted that he gave Riley $600 in cash and gifts in 2013 to keep another business from getting a permit that would allow it to open nearby.
In May 2018, at the direction of the FBI, the owner filed paperwork with the city to get a special-use permit to make changes to a gas station on Dorr Street, one of the city’s main thoroughfares. The permit would allow for an increase in traffic volume.
The informant met with Riley for lunch, according to the affidavit, and they discussed whether the council member could help him. Riley did not pay for his meal, and, as he was getting ready to leave, he ordered a second meal of prime rib and carrot cake to go, the affidavit said.
The informant paid for both meals, the affidavit says. He later paid $2,000 in a bribe to Riley and agreed to help Riley with the costs for a fundraiser, the document shows.
The special permit passed through council in April 2019.
The gas-station owner had some help, and it didn’t go unnoticed by the FBI. The owner knew someone who had a string of internet cafes in Toledo and worked as a middleman in the gas-station owner’s dealings with Riley.
The FBI approached the person with the internet cafes and used him as an informant, as well.
Unlike the gas-station owner, the owner of the internet businesses did not have a criminal record. The cafes’ owner also is not identified in the document.
A second informant soon sped the investigation into other directions.
Toledo City Councilman Larry Sykes speaks with reporters Tuesday following his arrest. [The Toledo Blade, via the Associated Press]
Branching out
The owner of the internet businesses sought help for rezoning and other issues before the city council. In one case, the owner asked an acquaintance what to do to get help from Harper, according to the affidavit.
In the past, the acquaintance said, he had paid Harper $4,000 in bribes to get a liquor permit for a business that had strong opposition from police and other local groups, according to the affidavit.
The document said the money had to go through Mitchell. The FBI filing said the internet café owner paid more than $2,000 to Harper for her support, passing it through Mitchell at the time.
In an instance in February of this year, Harper told the owner of the internet cafes to pay $640 to sponsor two tables for an upcoming political event. The owner handed the payments to an aide to Harper just as Harper advocated for the owner before the city’s Planning Commission, the affidavit says.
A month later, a permit for an internet café sailed through Council, despite protests from a nearby church. Later, according to the affidavit, Harper boasted about her work.
“Did you see how I did it?” she said, according to the document. “I smoothed it in. Nobody said nothing.”
The owner of the internet cafes continued to contribute money to the officeholders. He steered a friend, who wanted help opening an internet cafe, to Harper. Through Mitchell, the friend was told to make a substantial campaign contribution for Harper’s support of the plan in June 2019, the affidavit says. The friend gave $5,000 to Harper’s campaign.
The business owner gave Sykes $1,500 in support of legislation he was drafting to put a moratorium on all new internet cafes in the city, a move that would prevent the business owner from gaining any new competition, according to the FBI’s filing.
The owner also gave Gary Johnson $2,000 and asked a friend to contribute $1,000, as Johnson sought help in an unsuccessful bid for Lucas County sheriff.
Toledo City Councilman Gary Johnson leaves federal court in Toledo on Tuesday. [Toledo Blade photo, via the Associated Press]
Demands for cash
The FBI affidavit makes it appear that the informants did not have to work hard to offer bribes or campaign contributions.
Take Riley.
On Oct. 11, 2019, he called the owner of the internet cafes and said, “I need five grand.” The owner asked for help on a business project, and Riley said, “I’m in,” the affidavit said.
Days later, the owner hid $5,000 in a magazine and attempted to give it to Riley. He refused, citing a lack of trust with the owner.
Less than two weeks later, on Oct. 29, Riley and the business owner met outside a restaurant. They fumbled the hand-off, and the money fell. The FBI affidavit said Riley “hastily picked it up from the parking lot.”
Fearing a possible camera, he gave the money back to the informant and drove away, the document said. Minutes later, the men met again, and Riley received the money, according to the affidavit.
Last November, one of Harper’s constituents made a Facebook post that accused an employee of a downtown gas station of making a racial slur against a woman.
Harper met with the gas-station owner, who months earlier had sought Riley’s help for improvements to the Dorr Street business. She also invited the constituent and other neighborhood leaders.
The gas-station owner, who had been working as an FBI informant, leased the building to someone else. The affidavit said Harper suggested the owner pay the constituent over the incident.
The business owner paid $500, hoping the issue would go away. Harper, however, was not happy and wanted more money paid to the resident, according to the FBI’s filing. She refused to take the owner’s calls.
“She ain’t talking to you until you do right,” the affidavit quoted the resident as saying in a conversation with the business owner.
The owner, fearing the online protests and anger in the neighborhood, would continue, paid the constituent $2,500 with a check, the affidavit said. The resident said the owner would no longer have any problems.
‘I’m disappointed’
Jon Richardson, the attorney for Harper, declined to comment. Ronald Wingate, the attorney for Sykes, could not be reached. Attorneys for Mitchell, Riley and Johnson were not listed on the court’s docket late in the week.
The four council members are Democrats and represent some of the most impoverished communities in Toledo.
Harper, 71, was first elected in 2015, while voters chose Johnson, 64, in 2017. Sykes, 71, was first elected in 2013, while Riley, 65, won the office two years earlier.
The arrests have angered residents. Some view the charges as a result of greed that overshadowed their primary task of governing.
“I’m very disappointed; I feel let down,” said Dan Bethany of Toledo. “It seems to happen with a lot more frequency anymore.”
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