Former Councilman Ken Johnson’s Son Gets Free House

Former Cleveland City Councilman stands convicted in the United States District Court of 15 counts of various acts of misconduct involving his federal income tax and misappropriation of public funds.  Earlier this year, Johnson ally,  John Hopkins, former director of Buckeye Shaker Community Development Corporation, plead guilty to charges of conspiracy and theft from a federal program. Needless to say, there were lots of shenanigans going on at the now-defunct  Buckeye Shaker Development Corporation.

One of the most questionable, and one that apparently did not come up in the trial of Johnson, is a property located on Becket Road, in Cleveland’s Ludlow area — a part of Johnson’s former ward. Since 2018 the house has been the residence of one of Johnson’s so-called sons, Kevin A. Johnson.  When neighbors raised questions about the propriety of Kevin living in the house rent free, Johnson told Plain Dealer reporter Mark Naymik that his son was  living there to help to prevent vandalism and at the same time was making needed repairs.

However, a check of the records at the Cuyahoga County Recorders office tells a different story. Back in 2017 the house was transferred from private owners to the Cuyahoga County Land Bank. As is the practice, a few days later it was transferred to Buckeye Shaker Development, whose mission should have been to find a buyer who would improve the property and help stabilize the neighborhood.

But funny things happen when you are connected to Ken Johnson. It seems that seven days after Buckeye Shaker got title to the ten-room house, valued at $85,000, John Hopkins executed a quit claim deed transferring the property to Kevin Johnson. Whether there was a vote of the board of Buckeye Shaker or formal authorization for Hopkins to execute the deed is unknown. Maybe he was acting on a lark of his own. Maybe he was acting at the direction of the councilman. Only a check of the corporate records of Buckeye Shaker — if they exist — would reveal the truth.

Records at the Cuyahoga County Probate Court show that Kevin was in fact Johnson’s ward. He now calls him his adopted son but according to court records, Kevin was born with another name in the Marshall Islands and has resided with Ken Johnson since 2003 — until he moved to Becket.

From 2017 until 2021, the quit claim deed languished somewhere in the bowels of the records of Buckeye Shaker. After the February 2021 indictment of Johnson and Hopkins, there must have been some rethinking as to the status of the Becket Road property. Someone took the deed to the county recorder’s office.

A check at the recorder’s office shows that on April 27, 2021,  the four-year-old deed  was recorded, officially transferring the property from Buckeye Shaker to Kevin Johnson. The exemption form filed with the deed says that the property was a gift — free!

From 2017 until the transfer in 2021, tax records showed that the property was still in the name  Buckeye Shaker, who got the tax  bills. Buckeye Shaker never paid a dime. Currently the back taxes exceed $13,000 and a visual inspection of the property shows that not much as been done in terms of repairs — at least on the outside.

An official of the County Land Bank informed me that they have no “take back” provision which would allow them to reclaim the property. In other words, they can not do anything about the so-called son of a now-convicted councilman getting a free house that was originally acquired by the Land Bank.

One wonders who were the board members of Buckeye Shaker? Was there no oversight by the City of Cleveland Administration? Since Ken Johnson got away with years of submitting bogus requests for expenditures that proved to be unlawful, it is not surprising that no one checked what was going on at Buckeye Shaker.

As voters in Cleveland look to replace the current administration, and hopefully clean house at 601 Lakeside Avenue, one of the things that voters should be concerned about is oversight of local community development organizations that have traditionally been the fiefdoms of members of city council. It is a good question to ask of candidates for mayor.

Maybe someone in the county prosecutor’s office will read this article and take some action.  If not, taxpayers will just have to live with the fact that Ken Johnson, while he will have to suffer the consequences of his misdeeds when he is sentenced in October, got over like a fat rat for years while people at City Hall looked the other way. And while you are thinking about it, consider the fact that Johnson’s so-called son lives in a $85,000 house that he didn’t pay a dime for and didn’t even have the decency to pay the taxes.

C. Ellen Connally is a retired judge of the Cleveland Municipal Court. From 2010 to 2014 she served as the President of the Cuyahoga County Council. An avid reader and student of American history, she serves on the Board of the Ohio History Connection, is currently vice president of the Cuyahoga County Soldiers and Sailors Monument Commission and president of the Cleveland Civil War Round Table. She holds degrees from BGSU, CSU and is all but dissertation for a PhD from the University of Akron.

 

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3 Responses to “Former Councilman Ken Johnson’s Son Gets Free House”

  1. Mel Maurer

    A “fat rat” says it all.

  2. Pat Ballasch

    This is the kind of thing that gives politicians and people charged with oversight the poor reputation they deserve. let’s start a “wall of shame”. Someone needs to track these things and keep them in the public eye.

  3. Cynthia Weston

    With all of the corruption that has taken place in Ward 4, why would Judge Russo appoint someone with no political experience to be the interim Council person? Why did Reclaim Ward 4, and The Plain Dealer, choose to endorse candidates that aren’t prepared, or have the knowledge or experience to ethically and successfully provide the citizens of Ward 4 with the dedicated leadership that they deserve? What are the underlying reasons for this? There’s only one candidate that can bring about change and opportunities for a better tomorrow in Ward 4 and that’s Craig E. Willis! Remember his name and vote for him on September 14, 2021.

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