Tuesday, March 28, 2000
Ex-investigator explains why probe of developer languished
BY ROBERT ANGLEN
The Cincinnati Enquirer
A former city of Cincinnati investigator said Monday he underestimated how difficult it would be to finish a probe of a housing group that he began in 1994 and did not complete until this year.
Assistant City Solicitor James Johnson said he never thought his report on Owning the Realty development group would take so long to complete that the time limit to file criminal charges nearly expired.
“While I made decisions that were not made at the highest and most professional level, they were made in good faith,” he told City Council's Law and Public Safety Committee. “I be lieved I could complete this in an expedited manner. That was not the case.”
But council members said it was incomprehensible that Mr. Johnson kept to himself details of possible criminal wrongdoing until the report was filed this year. For more than an hour they questioned the city manager, the city solicitor and the director of the Office of Municipal Investigations about what went wrong.
“I do feel very good about the report I wrote,” said Mr. Johnson, who started the investigation while he was with OMI and continued working on it after he transfered to the city solicitor's office in 1997.
Comparing the report to a road map, he said it took years of research by his office and the finance department and dozens of subpoenas to understand what happened.
His report, released this month, found Owning the Realty officials used funds supposed to go for low-income housing on private businesses and to give contracts to their own companies.
Owning the Realty officials deny any wrongdoing and say the investigation is incomplete.
Hamilton County Prosecutor Mike Allen has criticized the city for holding onto the report and losing any chance to file misdemeanor state charges or any federal charges.
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