Daniel Gallagher Sentenced To Four Years In Prison For Bribery Involving Public Officials

Former Cuyahoga County employee Daniel Gallagher was sentenced to four years in prison today for engaging in a series of bribery conspiracies involving public officials, federal law enforcement officials announced today.

Gallagher, 62, of Strongsville, was also ordered to pay $87,000 in restitution by U.S. District Judge Sara Lioi. He previously pleaded guilty to eight counts, including Hobbs Act conspiracy, conspiracy to bribe programs receiving federal funds, destruction of records and subscribing a false tax return.

“This defendant was involved in several bribery schemes involving public officials,” said Stephen D. Anthony, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Cleveland office. “The FBI will continue efforts to root out corruption at any level.”  

Gallagher admitted to his involvement in several bribery schemes involving Frank Russo, Jimmy Dimora, J. Kevin Kelley, Kevin Payne, Samir Mohammad, Anthony Ma, Anthony Calabrese and others. All of those defendants have previously been found guilty of related offenses.

Gallagher worked as an employee in the Cuyahoga County Engineer’s Office until his retirement in 2002; he subsequently started a company called Eagle Consulting.

A company paid approximately $143,000 to Gallagher and Eagle Consulting related to efforts to keep theCounty Engineer’s Office at the Stonebridge complex. Gallagher in turn gave a portion of the money to Kevin Payne, who used it to pay for limousines, gambling trips and personal services for Dimora, according to court documents.

Other bribery schemes included orchestrating the use of certain software for the Engineer’s Office, with payments then going to Eagle Consulting, and helping steer another county contract to a business that paid $115,000 to Gallagher, which was distributed to Payne, Kelley and others. Eagle Consulting was also used as a way to funnel bribes to Kevin Kelley, who was a member of the Parma School Board, from a company that received a $1.8 million contract from the Parma Schools, according to court documents.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Antoinette T. Bacon and Ann C. Rowlandfollowing an investigation by the FBI and IRS – Criminal Investigation.