TOLEDO, Ohio — Toledo City Council was set to meet on Tuesday and address a potential mask mandate for the city of Toledo. Instead, the body that has recently been rocked by a bribery scandal involving four members abruptly adjourned.
During the virtual meeting call, Council President Matt Cherry asked for the resignation of three of the four members charged with bribery and extortion in bribes for votes scheme - Tyrone Riley, Larry Sykes and Gary Johnson. Yvonne Harper was not present on the call.
Riley, Sykes and Johnson refused to leave the 1 p.m. meeting when Cherry asked for their resignations and for them to leave the meeting. Cherry then adjourned the meeting.
Reached later, Cherry said that he and the seven other members of council do not feel comfortable voting with the members who are charged and out on $50,000 bond and are awaiting a July 20 federal court appearance.
Items that were on the agenda Tuesday were:
- Giving subpoena power to the Civilian Review Board
- Funding for the Civilian Review Board
- Expansion of the Downtown DORA District
- Sykes was to introduce no-knock warrant and body cam legislation
- A vote on a possible mask mandate
Toledo City Council’s regularly scheduled agenda review meeting started at 2 p.m. As of 2:08 p.m., Riley, Sykes and Johnson joined that meeting. There is no voting at an agenda review meeting.
Riley was participating as a full member of council during this agenda review meeting, asking questions on upgrading pedestrian signals.
The four Toledo City Council members and one local attorney are accused of participating in a bribery and extortion scheme that encouraged soliciting and/or accepting cash, checks, money orders or other things of value from local business owners in exchange for their votes on city council.
The scheme was revealed in a criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court. Named in the filing are Democratic council members Larry Sykes (At-Large), Yvonne Harper (District 4), Gary Johnson (At-Large) and Tyrone Riley (District 1).
The federal charges of bribery and extortion carry maximum penalties of 10 years and 20 years in prison, respectively, according to US Attorney Justin Herdman.
Harper has an additional charge beyond the bribery and extortion charges. The third charge applying only to her is a charge of unlawful interstate communications with the intent to extort, which has a maximum 2-year imprisonment penalty and a $250,000 fine.
