Cuyahoga County Sheriff Creates New Rank, Fills it With Controversial Former Cleveland Police Leader

Cuyahoga County Sheriff Harold Pretel has hired a controversial former Cleveland police leader to be one of his top aides, records show.

Pretel installed Alfred Johnson as a deputy major on Feb. 12. Johnson joins two other deputies, Nestor Rivera and Rich Peters, each of whom retired from the sheriff’s department with lower ranks on Jan. 30 only to return as deputy majors on Feb. 12. The rank of major is new to the sheriff’s department.

Johnson worked under Pretel for years at the Cleveland Division of Police. In September, Johnson was suspended for 30 days after city leaders found him guilty of 20 rules violations, Ideastream reported.

The city also demoted Johnson several ranks: from commander to sergeant. He subsequently resigned. Prior to the demotion, Johnson led the Bureau of Special Services, which oversees the department’s Gang Impact Unit and other drug and gun-related investigations.

Among its findings, the city found Johnson guilty of violating rules such as allowing officers to turn off body cameras at incident scenes, not completing audits of body cameras and not reporting a resident’s misconduct allegation, Ideastream reported.

Pretel, who took office last summer, is continuing to add top layers to his leadership team with other recent hires from outside police departments.

This article was published in partnership with The Marshall Project, a nonprofit news organization covering the U.S. criminal justice system. Sign up for their newsletters, and follow them on Instagram, TikTok, Reddit and Facebook.