CLEVELAND (WJW) – The FOX 8 I-Team has found a Cleveland Police lieutenant has filed a whistleblower lawsuit against the chief, the safety director and two other police supervisors, saying he was removed as head of the bomb squad for reporting a man offering a bribe.
Lt. Timothy Maffo-Judd wants to get his job back with the bomb squad and he’s seeking financial damages.
Mafffo-Judd went undercover and recorded a Tremont bar owner offering money while looking for protection so that his bar could stay open after hours and he could be alerted to any police raids.
The I-Team obtained and aired the video earlier this year when the bar owner went to prison.
Attorneys Michael Polito and Nathaniel Szep with the firm Polito, Rodstrom, Burke filed the suit saying Maffo-Judd was a victim of retaliation.
“We filed the case under the whistleblower statute,” Polito said. “He was removed as the officer in charge of the bomb squad. He reported a bribe. He did the right thing and then he was punished.”
The suit says Maffo-Judd had a meeting with the owner of the Duck Island Social Club set up by Sergeant Vincent Montague.
That led to the undercover investigation. The suit says investigators considered whether or not Montague and the bar owner should be indicted.
Montague has never been hit with any criminal charges.
However, the police department has filed 17 internal charges seeking internal discipline against Montague for having contact with that bar owner ten times throughout the...
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