NOTE: for those of you on the OHIO PING list that may be interested, more information about Mr. Art Mckoy.
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http://www.cleveland.com/plaindealer/stories/index.ssf?/base/cuyahoga/1230370303297280.xml&coll=2
Community activist Art McKoy never sold drugs to undercover cops, according to East Cleveland police investigation records.
But McKoy was present when an informant bought heroin at McKoy’s Superfly barbershop in February, the reports indicate. He was charged Friday with permitting the drugs to be sold from his business.
McKoy, Leroy Sheets, 59, and Earl Nash III, 30, who both worked at the shop, were arrested Wednesday for what East Cleveland officials said were their roles in a “major drug distribution ring.”
On Christmas Eve, police raided the Euclid Avenue barbershop and Sheets’ home on East 128th Street. Officers con- fiscated a pound of pow der cocaine but refused to re veal whether it was found in the barbershop or the house.
That day, Po lice Chief Ralph Spotts and Mayor Eric Brewer declined to say if McKoy personally sold any of the drugs or was present when the drugs were sold.
In 39 pages of investigative reports that The Plain Dealer reviewed, there was only one instance noted in which McKoy was said to have been present when drugs were sold.
The Plain Dealer obtained the reports when a detective mistakenly faxed the documents to the newspaper on Friday after a reporter asked for an update on the case. The records outline the investigation that began with two undercover drug buys in February.
The police reports indicate:
The investigation began Feb. 16 after police received complaints about drug dealing from the shop. Officers sent an informant to buy heroin.
The informant asked for McKoy. But a man identified as “Earl” told the informant that he could deal with him. The informant purchased $400 worth of “dog food,” which is slang for heroin, from “Earl.”
McKoy was in the barbershop and said to the informant: “Are you sure you know what you’re doing?”
The informant replied: “I think so.”
The same informant made another heroin buy in the shop from “Earl” several days later.
Ten months later, police said they were getting more complaints about sales of drugs at the barbershop.
On Dec. 18, a different informant came to the police, saying that he had bought drugs from the shop in the past from a barber named “Doc” and owed the barber money.
Police gave the informant several hundred dollars in marked bills to pay the debt. The informant and “Doc” talked about a large drug shipment that was expected to arrive days later. The next day, police pulled over his black Dodge Durango and identified him as Leroy Sheets.
Within days, officers got a search warrant for McKoy’s barbershop and the home where Sheets lived. But investigators did not search McKoy’s home.
The reports from the December drug purchase do not indicate McKoy was present in the barbershop during any of the informant’s conversations with Sheets.
Spotts declined to discuss the case. Brewer said that since the raid, residents have applauded officials for cleaning up the area.
“It’s their homes that have been burglarized and their property lost by drug addicts feeding off the hard drugs that police allege came from McKoy’s place of business,” he said.
Robert E. Davis, a lawyer and friend of McKoy’s, said McKoy had complained about drug sales in front of his shop for years. He said that if police had told McKoy someone was dealing from his business, he would have kicked him out.
“I don’t believe that Art had anything to do with the drug activity that was taking place,” Davis said.
McKoy faces one count of permitting drug abuse, a felony. Davis said that charge is ordinarily a misdemeanor. However, prosecutors have charged McKoy with a felony version because they contend he knowingly allowed drug trafficking to go on in his shop.
Nash is charged with two counts of drug trafficking and one of possession. Sheets faces charges including two counts of drug trafficking and two counts of possession.
The three were in jail Friday.
McKoy has a weekly radio show about crime and justice on WTAM. He was planning a rally for Martin Luther King Day and urging protesters to circle the Justice Center to bring attention to reports of racial disparity in sentencing in the county justice system.
Mary McKoy said that her father isn’t a drug dealer and that she was not surprised to hear about what she thinks is scant information linking him to dope sales.
“We already knew that,” she said.
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McKoy stands up for cop killer-read below:
Art McKoy and WTAM Apology
Saturday, 08 November 2008 16:37
To all FOP of Ohio and FOP/OLC members:
As you know, on July 13, 2008 Officer Josh Miktarian of the Twinsburg Ohio Police Department was (allegedly) killed by Ashford Thompson. On July 20, 2008 radio station WTAM aired a program hosted by Art McKoy wherein friends and relatives of Ashford Thompson called in and discussed Mr. Thompson’s good “character”. The FOP and the law enforcement community as a whole were outraged. The FOP planned a boycott and the letter asking for advertisers support is attached. President Nick DiMarco had discussions with the Program Manager from WTAM. Then on July 27, 2008, WTAM, due to pressure from the FOP and others, aired an apology. The apology came from the radio station and from Art McKoy.
Mr. McKoy stated in pertinent part: “Let me talk about last week’s controversial program. … I take full responsibility. … I knew it would be sensitive but I thought in my thin brain that I could do it tactfully and discreetly so I would not offend anybody directly. That did not happen. As hard as I tried to choose my words and be discreet, several words I used were offensive and inappropriate. ….. I apologize foremost and apologize from the bottom of my heart. “
A full audio is available at www.wtam.com – click on Town Hall part 1.
Your membership in the FOP and FOP/OLC is what keeps our organizations strong and able to successfully react to slights such as this. Before we even sent our boycott letter, WTAM was very concerned at having offended the law enforcement community and was anxious to resolve this matter. The FOP will demand the respect that Officer Josh Miktarian, and all fallen officers deserve.
In general WTAM supports our officers. Bob Franz to Mike Trivasanno are often on the front line of supporting officers who uphold the law.
Art McCoy is often on the front line of dissing officers doing the job a toughened street cop has to do. Whenever there has been a shooting involving a bro or someone from the ‘hood, you can count on McCoy and his group to be on scene the next day chanting and yelling their, “No justice, no peace” slogans. Dissing the whole police department even before any sort of investigation is completed. It is common for the people involved in the shootings to not be of greatest character and have records as long as your arm.
McCoy claims he represents the community. The only community he represents is the black community and that is the community he agitates. When a white man was shot and killed by Cleveland police officers in Aug. of 2006 McCoy was nowhere to be found agitating the community for the killing. It was later revealed the guy had only plastic utensils in his hands. IF this had been a black community member McCoy and his group would have been all over this scene.
How much does the whole community resent Art McCoy? When Cleveland Detective Jonathan “A.J.” Schroeder, 37, was killed in August 2006 Art McCoy was turned away from the funeral at the door. He was kicked out of the police rally supporting officers organized by WTAMs Bob Franz. http://ohiomedia.blogspot.com/2006/09/radio-and-tragedy.html
McCoy’s show is Sunday evenings on WTAM.
WTAM should remove this embarrassment from their airwaves.
McCoy is a fake and a fraud. He holds no kind of respected opinion or position in the community. Even before this arrest, as evidenced in the articles attached above.