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Two public officials, who prosecutors say were connected with a brothel that ran out of this building, were indicted today.

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- A grand jury today indicted Bedford Law Director Ken Schuman and Municipal Court Judge Harry J. Jacob III as part of a 19-count indictment that alleges that the public officials accepted bribes and solicited prostitutes, among other crimes.

Jacob specifically is charged with promoting prostitution -- in other words acting as a pimp.

And prosecutors say Schuman tried to mislead investigators looking into a Northfield Road brothel operation when they questioned him about a woman he had a relationship with.

The charges span a seven-year period from July 2006 until this October and involve four women, who are referred to as Jane Does in the indictment.(See the indictment below in document viewer or click here to view on a mobile device.)



Schuman, 41, faces charges of accepting bribes, having an unlawful interest in a public contract, money laundering, theft in office and obstructing justice all felonies. In addition, he is charged with misdemeanor charges of soliciting sexual activity, soliciting improper compensation and falsification.



Attorney James McDonnell, who represents Schuman, has previously declined to comment and could not be immediately reached.

Jacob, 57, is charged with six misdemeanor counts of soliciting sex from three women. He is also charged with bribery, and three counts of promoting prostitution, which are felonies.

Attorney Kevin Spellacy, who represents Jacob, along with David Grant, declined to comment on the indictment.

A release from Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Timothy J. McGinty says Schuman accepted a bribe of $9,500 in 2006 to influence the hiring of a Cleveland law firm as the city's bond counsel.

Schuman also used Bedford employees to do work for his private law firm and to run personal errands on city time, McGinty's office said.

Jacob solicited sex from three women and supervised at least two other women who were engaging in sex for hire, according to prosecutors. The charges don't specify whether those women were working out of the Northfield Road office building or not.

The judge also gave those women special favors when they appeared in his court and didn't reveal his relationship with the women to other court officials, prosecutors said.

Assistant County Prosecutor Matthew Meyer said in a release the indictments should send a message that the office is vigorously pursuing public corruption cases.

"No public official should be able to abuse his or her position of public trust as these two defendants have done," said Meyer who supervises the office's Public Corruption Unit. ""Prosecutors and judges are supposed to enforce the law, not violate it."

Investigators from Bedford police, Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation and the prosecutor's office have been gathering records from the city and the court for months –mostly in relation to Schuman's use of city vehicles and credit cards. They also wanted to see what he had been paid by the city and a private law firm that contracted with the city to assist with the sale of municipal bonds.

In regards to Jacob investigators first asked for specific court cases related to two women whose cases were on Jacob's docket. They later asked for a wide swath of prostitution and soliciting-related cases, in addition to surveillance video and information on Jacob's movements on a specific day – Nov. 7.

Schuman has been law director in Bedford since 2000, and has done legal work for a host of other suburbs. He has worked for the city and court in various jobs going back to the 1980s.

He went on medical leave from the city last month from the nearly $93,000-a year job.

Jacob went on medical leave from the court last month, the same week many of the subpoenas were issued.

Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Timothy J. McGinty had previously alluded to a connection between a corruption investigation and October indictments regarding prostitution at a Bedford office building.

James Walsh, 71, of Willoughby Hills, was indicted on charges accusing him of basically running a brothel out the Northfield Road building that formerly housed his insurance offices. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges. His attorney Richard Drucker could not be reached Thursday for comment.

At the time, McGinty said a rescue call to the building tipped off Bedford police about possible prostitution there. The concerned a woman who had overdosed on pills.

On Sept. 30, more than a year after that rescue call, the office building was raided. McGinty said that reams of credit card information and documentation about the business – which operated as a massage parlor – were seized.

The massage parlor was advertised online as Studio54. According to the charges at least five women worked at the suspected brothel.