CLEVELAND, OH — An admitted liar and convicted felon who agreed to work with federal agents investigating corruption in East Cleveland admitted on the witness stand Thursday that no police officer ever came to him offering to break the law in exchange for cash.
Instead, George Michael Riley testified FBI agents told him to put money into a police officer’s hands.
Former East Cleveland police officers Demarkco Johnson and Von Harris are accused of accepting hundreds of dollars from Riley in exchange for falsified police reports in the summer of 2018.
Both men are on trial facing 16 charges, including engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity, conspiracy, bribery, forgery and fraud.
On Thursday, jurors were shown undercover FBI surveillance video showing Riley paying Johnson and Harris.
“I know the report’s fake; I mean, they can’t tell that?” Riley asked Johnson as Riley looked at a handwritten report.
A former East Cleveland police sergeant whose signature appeared on the reports testified someone forged his name but also told jurors because the reports were never entered into the police department's computer system, he did not consider reports "official."
On the recordings, Riley said he needed the reports to collect insurance money for two stolen trucks.
“I’ve got like $20,000 coming as soon as I give them that report, and I’ll hook you up with some more,” Riley told Johnson.
Riley later admitted he never collected a dime using the reports.
Instead, he was working with the FBI.
But Riley, who said he once made more than $3 million demolishing homes and operating what investigators called an illegal landfill in East Cleveland, denied cooperating with federal investigators to keep himself out of trouble.
“Help myself out of what?” Riley asked a defense attorney. “I’m not in trouble. I did what they told me.”
Riley admitted he once spent time in prison for fraud and testified he frequently spread cash to various East Cleveland city officials.
“Every job you got, you were paying off someone in East Cleveland, handing money like Santa Claus weren’t you?” Defense attorney John Paris asked Riley.
“Everybody was coming,” said Riley.
“Everyone was coming for what?” asked Paris. “Your money?”
“Everyone came,” said Riley.
All part of what Riley described as his day-to-day life in the city.
“You pay for everything in East Cleveland,” said Riley. “Because there’s no other way.”
