Tag: I-Team

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CLEVELAND (WJW) –  The FOX 8 I-Team has learned Cleveland police are investigating gunfire outside a busy west side recreation center.

Police got the call just before 6:30 p.m. Friday about a gunshot outside of the Cudell Recreation Center.

According to police, a group of four men believed to be in their 20s were outside the center, when one of the men fired a shot at the victim. Three of the men took off running.

The victim was not struck. No injuries were reported.

Police are searching for the three.

Anyone with information on the shooting or the suspects is asked to call Cleveland police.

CLEVELAND (WJW) – The FOX 8 I-Team has uncovered how Cleveland fire inspectors are making up to $80,000 a year in overtime.

We exposed some eye-popping paychecks and now we can show you what those firefighters are getting paid extra to do.

If you go to the big game, watch the fireworks or show up at all kinds of big events, chances are, someone from the Cleveland Fire Prevention Bureau will be there too, earning overtime.

We recently showed you, some firefighters in that unit have been earning $40, 000, $70,000 and even $80,000 a year in overtime.

Yet, the city has no recent records of regular safety inspections of maximum risk buildings such as high-rises.

Friday, we found taxpayer watchdog Therese Pohorence asking the question you may be asking about all of that overtime.

“Well, I want to know what they did for it. And, of course, I want my tax dollars spent wisely,” Pohorence said.

We reviewed overtime request forms from the fire prevention bureau. We checked hundreds of records for the two firefighters hauling in the most overtime. We paid special attention to the section with the reason for working extra hours.

The most common reason we saw was a “fire watch” during an event, overseeing fire safety at ballgames and concerts and even graduations.

But, we also saw overtime for a pierogi festival and a baseball game that was rained out.

Here and there, we also noticed overtime tied to emergencies or, from time to time, for checks on nightclubs.

This week, we went to the assistant chief over the fire prevention bureau asking about safety inspections that haven’t been done. But, we didn’t get far trying to ask about inspections or overtime.

“Aren’t you over the fire prevention bureau?” the I-Team asked Bradley Englehart.

“No comment,” he responded.

Multiple sources in the fire department tell us the city should get reimbursed for some fire safety coverage during big events, but how much money comes back is not clear.

We checked with a couple of people from city council and even they want an explanation.

The fire chief is not talking on camera to the I-Team.

So, the overtime records answer some questions and raise more.

CLEVELAND (WJW) — The FOX 8 I-Team has uncovered a stunning number of water main breaks along the Cleveland water system, with more than 400 just in recent weeks.

We’ve seen city trucks getting stuck in sinkholes, drivers stuck in street collapses and water gushing all over the streets. So we investigated the number of local water main breaks.

We had noticed some of these scenes night after night.

The I-Team asked Cleveland Water for a list of water main breaks in the first six weeks of the year. Again, the list showed more than 400 breaks.

The records show many of the locations in the city — east side and west side — but many more throughout Cuyahoga County.

And it didn’t stop there. Records show breaks in Sagamore Hills, Brunswick, Richfield and Macedonia.

We also spotted three breaks along West 159th Street in Cleveland.

A woman walking her dog told us, “There have been a couple of them, like, right around the corner.”

A resident on his porch said, “The first one flooded, made the street look like the Cuyahoga [River] or something.”

We also asked for the size of each water main break. We found many labeled 6 inches. But we checked each one, and we found four dozen involved pipes at least 10 inches. That group included the biggest that we saw: 24-inch pipes.

“I wouldn’t say its reasonable, but it’s expected,” said Councilman Brian Kazy, who leads Cleveland City Council’s Utilities Committee.

“We do spend about $25 million a year upgrading the water system. There’s a plan in place — gonna take a lot of money, gonna take a lot of years.”

Cleveland Water issued a statement, saying, in part, “During the winter months, Cleveland Water averages 5 to 7 breaks daily and even more if we experience an extreme cold spell. That’s up from an average of 3 to 5 main breaks during the rest of the year. This increase is common for water systems similar in age and climate to Cleveland Water.

“As the 10th largest public water system in the country, Cleveland Water maintains more than 5,300 miles of water mains throughout our 640-square-mile service area.”

So, 400 water main breaks in weeks. Maybe you shouldn’t be surprised — unless you’re the driver ending up stuck in a sinkhole.

CLEVELAND (WJW) — Video released to the FOX 8 I-Team shows firefighters facing hard questions about safety hazards in a Warehouse District bar where a young woman fell and suffered permanent injuries.

A lawsuit claims the city of Cleveland knew about the danger long before the 2017 incident, but didn’t crack down.

And, the video comes to light as we’ve exposed many fire safety inspections not getting done.
The I-Team has obtained video depositions of firefighters interrogated about inspections inside Spirits, a club on West 6th Street.

On St. Patrick’s Day in 2017, Megan Keefe suffered permanent injuries. She fell from a second floor balcony inside Spirits.

A lawsuit says the city knew about safety code violations for two years and did nothing.

“How could a bar on West 6th Street be operating illegally for two and a half years?” asked attorney Craig Bashein asked.

“I don’t know that they’re operating illegally. How could we know that?” retired firefighter Joseph Simeone answered.

The lawsuit says Spirits didn’t even have a basic permit for use of the building. No one should have been on the second floor. And, Megan fell through a broken railing. Yet, attorney Bashein says the club had a list of safety problems noted by a fire inspector two years earlier.

Bashein also asked: “What kind of follow up is required to ensure these violations are abated?” 

Firefighter James Oleksiak said, “I can’t say for sure.”

On that point, Joseph Simeone added, “I know that people have the goal of insuring that every violation is corrected. But, in the city of Cleveland, it doesn’t happen all the time. You’re on to something else.”

This comes as the I-Team has exposed a breakdown in Cleveland fire inspections. There’s been no records of regular safety inspections in maximum risk buildings for at least the last two years.

Also on the court testimony on video, we saw fire inspectors give very vague answers to questions about record-keeping. They said, when inspectors find violations, they might only keep notes to follow up in personal calendars or notebooks.

Megan Keefe’s injuries were so critical, she’s not expected to be able to care for herself ever again. The bar owners settled a lawsuit for $22 million. That business is now closed.

As for the lawsuit against the city, City Hall does not comment on pending legal action.

The lawsuit dates back to a case nearly seven years ago. But, right now, the case is not close to going to trial.

CLEVELAND (WJW) – The FOX 8 I-Team requested recent fire safety violations in Cleveland, and we received records dating back 80 years.

As the I-Team has shown you, the city has no recent records of regular inspections of “maximum risk” buildings such as high-rises.

But now, consider what the city claimed would explain everything. We had filed a request for fire safety code violations found in 2023.

The city gave us five flash drives with hundreds of addresses and countless documents. However, we found almost all of the records dating back years and even decades — even to the 1940s and 1950s.

We also noticed some of the records were for buildings now vacant and closed up. For example, we went by one in Slavic Village, another on Payne Avenue, and another on Superior.

Last month, the I-Team challenged the safety director days before he resigned. He said the fire department doesn’t use the term “maximum risk” buildings, yet we found it on page one of a fire department policy.

Karrie Howard told us that we’d find records and answers on those flash drives.

“I just want to keep it clear and clean. Take a moment and look at that flash drive, and see if it answers your questions,” he said.

We took more than a moment. Actually, we spent hours checking records for 250 addresses.

The I-Team found some records from a few years ago. More records were from 20, 40 and 80 years ago. Even old drawings were tied to construction and permits.

We only found a handful of records from 2023. Those included violations at a warehouse tied to electric scooters and batteries, and violations at a high-rise apartment building after complaints.

Otherwise, there were no records tied to regular safety inspections outlined in fire department policy.

Last month, Howard also told us, if we didn’t find the records we wanted on those flash drives, we should go back to city hall.

But, Howard has resigned and the fire chief won’t talk to us on camera.

So, nobody from the city is telling us how your safety has anything to do with really old records and vacant buildings.

Last week, some city council members told us they also plan to investigate what’s being done and not done with fire inspections. We plan to ask more questions, too.

CLEVELAND (WJW) – The FOX 8 I-Team has uncovered a big change in how Cleveland police are investigating fraud and hustlers getting into your bank accounts and ripping you off.

This comes after the financial crimes unit had shrunk to just one detective.

Records show, last August, the unit investigating scams and fraud had dwindled down to one sergeant and one detective.

Now, Cleveland police are moving to a new system to look into cases like the mystery surrounding plane tickets for John Prather and Andrea Teel.

They say their vacation turned into a nightmare. They believe someone hacked into their account and used their plane tickets.

“It was a mess and it cost me a lot of money,” said John Prather said. “This cyber fraud or whatever is going on, it’s crazy.”

“We were furious and upset at the same time because we didn’t know how we were going to get home,” Teel said.

Big money crimes can get complicated with bank records and email accounts. Yet, again, we found the Cleveland Police Department’s financial crimes unit had been staffed by just one detective. In two years, the number of cases sent off for charges had dropped by two-thirds.

The city says the financial crimes unit kept dwindling in size with retirements and transfers.

Now, cases with a con artist or fraud ring will be assigned to neighborhood detectives.

“We’re committed to constantly looking for better ways to serve our community,” Sgt. Freddy Diaz said. “Now, the neighborhood districts will have the ability to handle these investigations. They’ve gone through some training in regard to the financial crimes.”

Still, those detectives already handle many other crimes. So, we asked, “how realistic is it to have these neighborhood detectives handle these cases when they’re so busy already handling shootings, robberies and stolen cars?”

“The increases in technology, the increases in items detectives didn’t have, you know, 20, 30 years ago, we have found there are other ways to handle the investigation,” Sgt. Diaz said.

Andrea and John say, however it happens, something has to be done about the scammers. They say their case is still a mystery.

“How did it happen? Why did it happen? Did it happen at the airport?” Prather wondered.

Veteran investigators tell us many of these crimes can be nearly impossible to solve. In fact, last month, we showed you a hack into the Ohio Lottery system likely will not be solved.