FBI raids judges’ chambers in investigation

CLEVELAND (AP) — The FBI said Wednesday it raided two judges’ chambers as part of a public corruption investigation that began with earlier raids on the offices and homes of two elected officials in Ohio’s most populous county.

Agents executed search warrants around 8 p.m. Tuesday on the courtrooms of Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judges Bridget M. McCafferty and Steven J. Terry, FBI Spokesman Scott Wilson said.

Wilson wouldn’t say what the agents took from the judges’ chambers and the evidence was under seal.

McCafferty declined comment and Terry did not immediately return a phone message seeking comment.

The searches were a continuation of a county probe that began July 28 when agents sent employees home for the day and used U-Haul trucks to take away items from the offices and homes of Commissioner Jimmy Dimora and Auditor Frank Russo. No charges have been filed and Dimora and Russo say they’ve done nothing wrong.

The focus of the federal investigation hasn’t been disclosed, but The Plain Dealer has reported that agents were looking into allegations that Dimora, one of three county commissioners who is also the county’s Democratic chairman, and Russo traded county jobs and contracts for thousands of dollars in free improvements to their spacious suburban homes.

McCafferty, 42, has been a Common Pleas judge since 1999.

Terry, 50, was appointed to the bench in April 2007 by Gov. Ted Strickland to fill a seat vacated by Judge Mary Jane Boyle.