Suspended East Cleveland Mayor Brandon King was sentenced Tuesday to three years of probation, ordered to make about $28,000 in payments to the Ohio Ethics Commission and permanently barred from holding public office.
But the prosecutor’s office had asked for prison time for King, who was convicted of of 10 counts, including theft in office, multiple counts of having an unlawful interest in a public contract and filing a false disclosure statement, on May 29.
“I do find that that behavior is unacceptable and inappropriate,” said Judge Hollie Gallagher, when announcing her decision not to sentence King to prison.
The prosecution’s case against King largely focused on city contracts with two companies started by King's father and owned by his family: King Management Group and American Merchandising Services.
The city’s domestic violence program rented office space in an East Cleveland building owned by KMG. The arrangement started in 1998 or 1999, according to testimony, while the building was owned by his father and long before King was elected to office as a city council member in 2014 and became mayor in 2017.
The domestic violence office pays more than $14,000 a year to KMG, and in 2024, King vetoed city council’s attempt to end the lease.
Between 2019 and 2022, the city purchased about $6,000 worth of supplies from American Merchandising Services, according to the indictment.
Gallagher researched other theft-in-office cases involving elected officials and said she found, in most cases, the punishment was probation. She added that, in King’s case, both the city and King “benefitted” from the suspended mayor’s crimes because the domestic violence department used the office owned by King and the city received and used office supplies from AMS.
King spoke to reporters very briefly on his way out of the courtroom after sentencing, saying only, “I'd like to thank the judge today, and I'd like to thank my attorney, Charles Tyler Sr."
King’s co-defendant, former Councilmember Ernest Smith, was also sentenced to three years of probation and permanently disqualified from public office for charges related to his use of a city-owned vehicle and gas card.
Both Smith and King plan to appeal.
