J. Kevin Kelley Pleads Guilty in Cuyahoga County Corruption Probe

On Wednesday, J. Kevin Kelley, a former employee of the Cuyahoga County Engineer's Office, admitted his role in the corruption in Cuyahoga County government. He became the first to admit guilt, pleading guilty to eleven corruption charges including bribery, mail fraud, theft, conspiracy and tax fraud.

Other local officials who have been under the watchful eye of Uncle Sam include County Commissioner Jimmy Dimora and County Auditor Frank Russo. Fellow engineer's office employee Kevin Payne also pleaded guilty on Wednesday.

Kelley and Payne will now work with the feds to build their case against other key players in the scandal in hopes of cutting down the amount of time they'll spend in prison. Kelley could be facing up to ten years in jail, but if he gives federal authorities the help they are looking for it could be reduced down to six.

Jim Trakas, a member of the Republican Party's central committee said:

"....eleven different organizations and individuals, including elected officials are about to be indicted and the fact that Mr. Kelley, they had taped conversations means that either he was wearing a wire or his phone calls were allowed to be taped, that's very damning and it's extremely difficult to get out of a situation like this so the lid's about to blow wide open on this corruption scandal."

He continued:

"....the federal government is very thorough and they don't issue indictments willy nilly, so anyone who's involved in this right now is shaking in their shoes."