Top Cuyahoga Co. employee charged in probe

CLEVELAND (AP) — A top Cuyahoga County employee funneled about $1.2 million in cash bribes to her boss, federal authorities said in the latest charges to come out of a wide-ranging corruption probe.

Santina Klimkowski, chief administrator to Auditor Frank Russo, also took $154,000 in kickbacks from a company hired to handle commercial appraisals in the county, authorities said.

The charges filed Friday in U.S. District Court increase pressure on Russo, a Democrat who is one of the most power politicians in the region.

Russo is not named in the federal government’s documents. But plea agreements with other figures in the probe and other court documents show that a man described as “Public Official 2” is Russo.

Russo has not been charged and denies any wrongdoing. His attorney, Roger Synenberg, declined to comment Saturday.

Klimkowski is also accused of accepting kickbacks while a member of the school board in Maple Heights between 2003 and 2005. She accepted free siding and other improvements to her home in return for steering construction contracts with the district, prosecutors said.

Her attorney, Pat D’Angelo, said his client intends to plead guilty to the bribery charges and is cooperating with investigators.

“She understands she faces a prison sentence, and she will serve it and move on with her life,” D’Angelo said. “She is sorry for what she has done.”

Klimkowski, 58, resigned Thursday from her county job. She earned $103,000 in that position last year.

At least 16 people have been charged in the investigation, which began when federal agents last year raided the homes and offices of Russo and County Commissioner Jimmy Dimora.

Dimora also hasn’t been charged and denies wrongdoing.

Despite the raids, Klimkowski continued to deliver bribes from V.A.S. Enterprises to Russo but took greater steps to conceal the money, authorities allege. One time, Russo asked her to conceal the money in a cigarette pack, prosecutors said.

V.A.S. Enterprises has been paid $21.4 million to handle Cuyahoga County’s commercial appraisals since 1998, one year after Russo took office. The appraisals determine how much businesses pay in property taxes.

If the charges are true, it means Ohio’s most populous county hasn’t had an honest appraisal of its commercial and industrial buildings in more than a decade.

The county’s contract with V.A.S. Enterprises was suspended after the FBI requested a copy of it this year.

“I’m outraged at the depth and gravity of what we’re seeing and what is going on in county offices,” said Robert Frost, chairman of the Cuyahoga County Republican Party.

A message seeking comment was left Saturday at V.A.S. Enterprises in Cleveland.