The iOpener: New Interim Sheriff Named; Bauer Discusses Trade, Legacy

Good morning, iOpeners. It's Thursday, August 1, 2019.  

A longtime employee of the Cuyahoga County Sheriff’s Department is now its interim sheriff. Lt. Bryan Smith is replacing Clifford Pinkney, who retires Friday. The county has created a team of local law enforcement and health experts to assist a search firm in finding a permanent sheriff. 

Departing Indians pitcher Trevor Bauer said he’s “himself to a fault” and hopes his legacy will be defined by fans and the people he’s met, and not by his angry headline-making heave of a ball over the center-field wall Sunday in Kansas City. Bauer, who’s been traded to the Cincinnati Reds, stuck around to attend last night’s game between the Indians and the Astros and spoke to reporters about the trade.  Manager Terry Francona said he had concerns about how Bauers’ ball-throwing incident would affect the team.   

Consumer fraud investigators say the most popular scam they’re seeing in Cuyahoga County right now involves fraudsters who threaten to suspend a Social Security number for alleged illegal activity. The Federal Trade Commission in June reported receiving nearly 73,000 complaints about this scam in the past year, with consumers losing nearly $17 million. Cuyahoga County Consumer Affairs Director Sheryl Harris said government agencies like the Social Security Administration or the IRS will rarely call a person and will never make threats. Consumer fraud investigators were in Cleveland for a conference.

Federal and state officials raided 13 massage parlors in Northeast Ohio in a prostitution sting operation. Seven people have been indicted for promoting prostitution. Cuyahoga County prosecutor Michael O’Malley said the raids and indictments were the result of an investigation that began in 2017.

A man who drove his SUV drunk through a gate in a perimeter fence at Cleveland Hopkins Airport was sentenced to 90 days in jail. Daniel Allen of Cleveland was also ordered to pay the airport $43,000 for damages he caused. Allen crashed through a gate on the west side of the airport around 3 a.m. on Feb. 3, drove across the airfield and then crashed through a fence at the I-X Center. Police found his SUV stuck in a snowbank.   

Textile artist and Kent State University educator Janice Lessman-Moss is the winner of the 2019 Cleveland Arts Prize Lifetime Achievement Award. CAP executive director Alenka Banco said Lessman-Moss's use of digital technology in woven tapestries has "introduced what was once a dying discipline to an entirely different generation." Two other arts educators, Victoria Bussert, head of Baldwin Wallace University’s Music Theatre program and poet and University of Akron professor Mary Biddinger, are getting CAP’s Mid-Career Awards. Poet Kisha Nicole Foster and Akron dancer and choreographer Dominic Moore-Dunson are the recipients of the Cleveland Arts Prize's Emerging Artist Award.   

The Indians overpowered the Astros, 10-4. Roberto Pérez homered twice, and Carlos Santana and Jason Kipnis each hit a three-run shot

Weather forecast for Cleveland: Sunny, high 81.  Tonight, mostly clear, low 66.  Tomorrow, sunny, high 82. No rain in the forecast until Tuesday night.