Cleveland poll worker

Cleveland poll worker Allen Bethea appeared in court Thursday after police accused him of pulling a gun at West Side polling station during Tuesday's primary election.

(Cory Shaffer, cleveland.com)

CLEVELAND, Ohio - The Cleveland poll worker accused of pulling a pistol during an argument at a polling station during Tuesday's primary election made his first court appearance Thursday.

Allen Bethea, 45, of Cleveland, did not enter a plea to one charge of violating concealed carry laws. He pleaded not guilty to minor misdemeanor marijuana abuse. Judge Emanuela Groves set his bond at $10,000.

Bethea, who rehabilitates houses for a living, also faces aggravated menacing charges as his case is taken to a grand jury.

About 50 voters were inside the polling station at Louisa May Alcott Elementary School on Baltic Road when Bethea pulled the .380 pistol out of his backpack and declared "somebody's going to die," witnesses said.

Poll workers also said Bethea was trying to sell drugs at the polling station.

Sharon Burns said Bethea argued with her after she tried to show him the proper way to help handicapped voters. Fellow poll worker Tonya Gullardo, 52, stepped in to help calm him. That's when Bethea pulled the gun, the witnesses said.

Bethea left the poll station after workers called police. He was arrested at West 107th Street and Detroit Avenue, Sgt. Jennifer Ciaccia said.

The Board of Elections released a statement later in the afternoon saying the worker, one of 6,000 temporary workers hired to work polls in the county, was fired.

Bethea was charged in 2002 with rape, sexual imposition, sexual battery and kidnapping with a sexual motive. He pleaded guilty to sexual imposition, a third degree misdemeanor, and the other charges were dropped as part of a plea deal, court records say. Bethea was sentenced to 90 days in jail, but the sentence was suspended.

Bethea's next court date has not been set.