Juvenile Court

Three Cuyahoga County Juvenile Court officials were either fired or resigned after internal investigations.

(File photo)

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Two Cuyahoga County Juvenile Court magistrates targeted in internal investigations are no longer working for the courts, according to court records.

And the director of the juvenile court's Psycho Diagnostic Clinic resigned after another investigation found he wasn't a licensed psychologist and used his office at the Quincy Avenue courthouse as his private practice.

Magistrates Howard Dunn and Charles Wochna, who both made $87,979 a year, both routinely showed up late to work, took extended lunches and left early without authorization from a supervisor, according to court records.

Both put in their timecards that they were working when they weren't at the courthouse.

Wochna was fired Sept. 29 and Dunn voluntarily resigned the same day. Wochna was hired at the court in July 1991 and Dunn in November 1990.

The investigation was sent to the prosecutor's office for review to see if criminal charges are appropriate.

Clinic director Todd Hendrix resigned Dec. 1. He made He made $80,032 annually.

Here is what each is accused of, according to court and county records:

Howard Dunn

An internal investigation found Dunn routinely reported on his timecard that he was at the courthouse by 7:30 a.m. and left by 3:30 p.m.

Investigators compared that with surveillance video from the courthouse and from his security card which showed that Dunn was often late to work, took lunches of more than one hour and left early, according to court records.

During a disciplinary hearing, Dunn said that he had medical concerns, but never provided medical records to support his claim. He also said he was often fatigued and would fall asleep during his lunch hour.

He said he was afraid to notify a supervisor because he didn't want the court to question his ability to do his job, county records say.

"Dunn expressed remorse for his behavior and offered to the Court to pay back time owed in (an) attempt to regain trust from the Court," documents say.

He also told investigators that other court employees treated their time cards and schedule similarly.

Dunn did not respond to messages seeking comment.

Charles Wochna

The accusations against Wochna are similar to those levied against Dunn. He too showed up to work late, took long lunches and left early, but put on his time card that he had worked those hours.

Again, internal investigators used his security card and surveillance video that showed otherwise.

Wochna apologized during his disciplinary hearing and said the habit of coming to work late happened gradually over time. He said he completed all of his duties before leaving and that he "did not intend to be malicious to the Court."

Wochna did not respond to messages seeking comment.

Todd Hendrix

Hendrix resigned after 27 years working for the court and five years as the supervisor of the clinic which does mental health evaluations for defendants in criminal cases or family members in custody cases.

Hendrix's case arose after he asked the court to approve a promotion for one of his staff members. Investigators found that Hendrix is not a licensed psychologist and must have someone else at the court sign off on his employees' work.

Hendrix is a Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor and has a Ph.D. in urban education and philosophy. That allowed him to perform some of his duties as the clinic's manager but not all of them.

He never notified his employer that he was unable to sign off on the work of the three psychologists he oversaw. Hendrix also compared himself to previous managers when asking for raises, but the previous managers were all licensed psychologists.

Hendrix told investigators he didn't feel like he needed to tell anyone when he was hired because someone else at the court is able to legally sign off on psychologists' work.

A court official was not available late Wednesday to explain why Hendrix had been promoted without a valid psychologist license.

Investigators dug deeper into Hendrix's time as manager. They found he routinely altered his employees' time cards so they were overpaid for more than 13 hours that they didn't work.

They also found he used his work computer to grade papers, send emails to his students and to do other work related to his job at Cleveland State University.

Since 2001, he worked on his private practice -- the Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow charter schools based in Columbus -- on county time. Investigators noted they believe he "operated his practice almost exclusively from the court."

Hendrix also bought three types of testing material using court money, but only used them for his private practice. Two of the tests cost a combined $1,632.

Hendrix spent hours on court time sending emails that had nothing to do with work, including emails titled "McDonalds," "Spiced," "Chef Mike" and "Dear Abby," investigators found.

His resignation letter sent to the court Dec. 1 said that he considered working with the court "more than a calling than a job."

"To know that the Court has ceased to support me in this calling and does not view me as the steadfast employee I have long been, feels nothing less than a betrayal and it is not something I will easily get past," the letter says.

Hendrix declined to comment when reached on Wednesday.

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