Former Executive Director Indicted for Stealing More than $223,000
11/17/2017
County Prosecutor Michael C. O’Malley announced that a Cuyahoga County Grand Jury returned an indictment against Tamiko Parker and ex-husband, Lamont Johnson. Parker was indicted on two counts of Theft and one count of Money Laundering. Johnson was indicted on one count of Theft.
Tamiko Parker was the Executive Director of Collinwood/Nottingham Village Development Corp ("CNVDC") from October 2014 – October 2015.
She stole funds through a variety of schemes including: thousands of dollars in purchases of personal items on CNVDC credit cards; writing excessive/unwarranted checks to herself and ex-husband; double-depositing payroll checks; and stealing rental income from properties CNVDC managed.
Another scheme Parker used to steal funds was making multiple ATM and Debit card purchases and withdrawals from the CNVDC checking account. She used the CNVDC Debit Card to make thousands of dollars of withdrawals at the Cleveland Horseshoe Casino and purchased thousands of dollars of apparel and motorcycle accessories from several Harley-Davidson dealerships (Canton, Avon, Bedford, Atlantic County, NJ). She also purchased a $15,000 Harley-Davidson motorcycle in 2015. `
Parker also used a scheme of issuing payments totaling more than $32,000 to Lamont Johnson for alleged work performed including lawn mowing and clean-up that was not approved by the CNVDC Board.
Parker was indicted for employee theft three previous times.
Cleveland City Councilman Ward 8 Michael D. Polensek alerted the County Prosecutor’s Office in early 2017 about a pending investigation by Cleveland Police Department of suspected fraud at CNVDC as detected by the new executive director. The suspected fraud initially pertained to doubling her payroll deposits. The Cuyahoga County Prosecutor’s Office facilitated a broader investigation into CNVDC’s financial records which led to today’s indictment.
“Those funds were designated to improve the lives of the residents and business owners in the Collinwood neighborhood,” said Prosecutor O’Malley. “Unbelievably, she has three prior convictions for employee theft and it is our hope this fourth prosecution puts an end to her serial embezzlement.”
Councilman Michael D. Polensek added, “I wish to thank Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Michael O’Malley and his Investigative Team for responding immediately when I brought to his attention the concerns I had about missing CNVDC funds. We in the Ward 8 Collinwood community will not tolerate anyone abusing and misusing funds earmarked for our community. The Prosecutor’s Team did an excellent job in researching and uncovering exactly what had transpired at CNVDC. Let the chips fall where they may.”
View the indictment here.