William J. Edwards, Acting United States Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio, announced the unsealing of a twelve-count grand jury indictment charging Tiffiney Cleveland, a former East Cleveland detective who resides in Euclid, Ohio, with one count of conspiracy to distribute cocaine, one count of conspiracy to distribute cocaine and marijuana, six counts of accessing law enforcement databases in excess of her authority, two counts of wire fraud, and one count of bank fraud.
The indictment alleges that in February 2005, Cleveland used her access to law enforcement data bases to run the license plate of a person to whom her husband intended to sell cocaine. The license plate, being used by an undercover federal agent in an investigation of Cleveland ’s husband, aroused the suspicion of Cleveland, who advised her husband against consummating the transaction. A few days later, Cleveland again accessed law enforcement databases in excess of her authority to determine whether her husband was under investigation. The indictment also charges that on four other occasions, Cleveland accessed law enforcement databases in excess of her authority and for personal reasons - to obtain information on the ex-wife of a witness who provided information to law enforcement about her husband, to obtain information about her son’s father, and to obtain information about her husband’s girlfriend and her husband.
The indictment also charges that Cleveland assisted her husband in obtaining two mortgage loans and a car loan by providing false verification of employment at the City of East Cleveland for her husband, who had never been employed by the City of East Cleveland . After her husband was arrested on drug trafficking charges in July 2006, Cleveland requested an extension on a car loan payment falsely stating to the Eaton Family Credit Union that her husband was in a coma. In fact, her husband was in pretrial detention on the drug charges, and the car was in the possession of the Westlake Police Department.
Finally, the indictment charges that Cleveland assisted her husband in attempting to complete marijuana and cocaine transactions that had been pending when her husband was arrested. She did this by relaying messages, enlisting the assistance of others and in moving approximately two ounces of cocaine from one location to another.
Tiffiney Cleveland is no longer employed by the East Cleveland Police Department.
The sentence in this case, upon conviction, may be determined by the Court after consideration of the advisory Federal Sentencing Guidelines, which depend upon a number of factors unique to each case, including the defendant's prior criminal record, if any, the defendant's role in the offense and the unique characteristics of the violation. In all cases the sentence will not exceed the statutory maximum and in most cases it will be less than the maximum.
The case was presented to the grand jury by Assistant United States Attorney Ann C. Rowland following investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, the Westlake Police Department and the East Cleveland Police Department.
An indictment is only a charge and is not evidence of guilt. A defendant is entitled to a fair trial in which it will be the government’s burden to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
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