CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The veteran Cuyahoga County Jail supervisor who was fired after he twice used excessive force against black female inmates once shared on social media an incendiary image of a vulture lurking behind a starving black child.

A Cuyahoga County official on Friday called the picture "reprehensible" and "disgraceful."

Brendan Johnson was fired from his job as a corrections corporal in the Cuyahoga County Sheriff's Department in June for what a county official called "egregious and completely unacceptable behavior."

Johnson pepper sprayed two women in the face at the jail in May in violation of jail use-of-force policies, according to a copy of his dismissal letter.

But the sheriff's department was unaware until Friday of an October 2012 post on Johnson's Facebook page of a racially charged and incendiary photograph.

The image shows a very young, emaciated black child doubled over on what appears to be desert soil in the foreground. The child's ribs are visible, and he is wearing nothing but a diaper, a bone necklace and wristband.

A vulture stands behind the child, hunkered and still, as if ready to pounce on the starving child.

"PATIENCE," the caption reads. "Good things come to those who wait."

Five of Johnson's friends liked the photo, including Ray Saladonis Jr., who is also a corporal in the Cuyahoga County Sheriff's Department.

"The word of the day," Saladonis wrote in response to the photo. Johnson liked the comment.

Saladonis was hired in 2010 and promoted to corporal in 2014.

Cleveland.com viewed the photograph Friday before Johnson's photographs were made private.

County and sheriff's department officials were not aware of the post until cleveland.com sent a screenshot and a link to Cuyahoga County spokeswoman Mary Louise Madigan.

The county is reviewing the post and any "likes" to determine if any current employees violated policy, Cuyahoga County Director of Human Resources for Employee and Labor Relations Ed Morales said in an emailed statement.

"The reprehensible Facebook post was put up by a former employee who does not represent the views of Cuyahoga County," Morales said, adding that "there is no question that the disgraceful views are not tolerated."

County policy bars employees from any action that "brings discredit" to the county.

"All county employees are responsible for conducting themselves at all times in a way that advances the goals of the county and increases public confidence in county government," Morales said.

Johnson and Saladonis did not return voicemails seeking comment.

Johnson was fired June 23 after he pepper sprayed two women in the face without justification on May 8 and May 10, according to his firing letter.

Neither of the women posed any physical threat to Johnson when he sprayed them, and he gave no warning to them, the letter says.

Johnson is also being sued in federal court by an inmate who accused Johnson of using excessive force in March 2015. Johnson dragged the inmate, a white man, by the shirt across a room, jerked him by the arm and pinned him against a wall, according to the filing.

Johnson was suspended for three days in August after an internal investigation.

Johnson has appealed his firing, Madigan said. A grievance meeting between the union that represents corrections officers and Cuyahoga County has not yet taken place.

Neither Madigan nor Cuyahoga County Prosecutor's Office spokesman Joe Frolik were able to confirm whether Johnson could face any criminal charges Friday.

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