ROCKY RIVER, Ohio — An estate sale business owner accused of taking clients’ money showed up in court this morning, and News 5 was the only station there capturing what happened. And what went down was a bit odd.
Jessica Galayda arrived at Rocky River Municipal Court looking very different than the times our hidden cameras caught her running estate sales as criminal and civil cases stacked up against her throughout our area.
“Even when she walked in, I was like who is this person? Because she looks nothing like she does normally,” said Angie Swanson, who is suing Galayda. Swanson said Galayda took money from her sale. Galayda is challenging those claims.
The prosecutor in Rocky River Municipal Court will now send the felony case to the county level where a grand jury will take it up.
After the hearing as we were asking Galayda questions, her attorney tried to run some interference.
“Do not block our cameraman,” we told the attorney.
“We want to get your side of the story,” we said to Galayda.
“No comment and I want you to leave me alone,” Galayda replied.
Cindy Hauck is the listed victim in the felony case. She hired Galayda to run an estate sale, but Hauck said Galayda stole money from that sale.
Hauck agreed with the decision to send the case to the county for further criminal consideration.
“I didn’t really ever want to settle here and she tried to have me settle for nothing. And that’s not the point,” said Hauck. “The point is too many people have been hurt by her.”
Since our eye-opening investigation aired, people have been reaching out to us with their own stories about Galayda and Cleveland Estate Liquidators. If you have a similar case, we want to hear from you.
Call our tip line at 216-431-4357 or email us at InvestigatorTips@WEWS.com. This story all started with a tip coming into our News 5 Investigative Unit.
Watch our original investigative report on Galayda below:
RELATED: Local estate sale business owner accused of taking clients' money
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