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Cuyahoga County prosecutor checking the credibility of Deputy Kasey Loudermilk after he was accused of lying
Cuyahoga County Prosecutor’s Office officials are questioning the credibility of Kasey Loudermilk, the Cuyahoga County Sheriff’s Department deputy who has been involved in high-speed chases that killed two bystanders and the driver of a fleeing car.
The Marshall Project - Cleveland reported exclusively with News 5 Cleveland that Loudermilk, a member of the sheriff’s controversial Downtown Safety Patrol, was accused of “lying” during the hiring process, but sheriff’s officials ignored the warnings.
Officials from the prosecutor’s office say that “in light of recent reports,” they are currently working to determine whether Loudermilk will have issues if called to testify in court by defense attorneys.
Each year, officials from the prosecutor’s office ask police agencies in the county for a list of officers with credibility problems. Lexi Bauer, the spokesperson for the prosecutor, wrote in a statement that the office has not been provided with information on Loudermilk.
“Our office has since made additional inquiries…,” the statement said. “To date, we have not received any. We are continuing to investigate the matter.”
Loudermilk is on administrative duty after a vehicle that Loudermilk and another deputy were chasing struck a woman’s car and killed her the morning of Aug. 24.
– Mark Puente
Cuyahoga jail warden steps down
Cuyahoga County Jail Warden Alfred Wilcox resigned on Sept. 2, a little more than a year after starting the job.
His resignation was effective immediately. He wrote in a letter to officials that it was time to “take a step back, focusing on my family and reflecting on what lies ahead.”
Cuyahoga County Press Secretary Jennifer Ciaccia said Damara Shemo is serving as interim warden, and declined to share additional details on Wilcox’s resignation beyond what was provided in the letter.
Wilcox was hired in August 2024 to share leadership responsibilities with Warden Michelle Henry. He arrived after Jeremy Everett was forced out in 2023, after just six weeks on the job.
Adam Chaloupka, an attorney with the Ohio Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association, said that Wilcox was generally well-liked by the staff during his tenure.
“That said, I hope one day the jail will have a set of top administrators who stay in those positions,” Chaloupka said. “The revolving door of administrators degrades the institutional knowledge of the sheriff’s department, which is a detriment to employees and supervisors alike.”
– Brittany Hailer
Do you know someone struggling with drug use in Ohio prisons?
Billy Renshaw says a guy he knows in Pickaway Correctional Institution has great promise.
“He has the second-highest score here ever in the computer class. He’s in for a tech crime,” said Renshaw, who is also incarcerated at the Ohio prison. “He can’t stop using drugs. He’s high all day, every day. Goes to the hole regularly.”
Institutional records detail the man’s routine discipline for using drugs or alcohol while incarcerated, as well as the long list of vocational programming and counseling he’s undergone.
State inspectors who toured the prison in 2023 observed that “some individuals incarcerated are relentless in their efforts to (smuggle in) illegal substances.” From 2023 through 2024, overall drug infractions nearly doubled, according to discipline data shared by a state oversight agency.
Ohio has a serious drug problem in prisons, one that undermines safety and stunts rehabilitation. Data provided by Ohio prison officials show officers finding more and more drugs each year, knowing less and less about how they got in, despite heightened efforts to keep them out.
Meanwhile, advocates say addiction is more often punished than treated behind bars, perpetuating a cycle of incarceration for people with substance abuse disorders. Nationwide, fatal overdose rates more than tripled from 2009 to 2019, when 90% of the incarcerated population who qualified did not receive addiction treatment, according to the Prison Policy Initiative.
Do you know someone who started using illicit drugs while in an Ohio prison? How did that impact their life and health after release or while inside?
Please share your stories with The Marshall Project - Cleveland by emailing dlivingston@themarshallproject.org.
– Doug Livingston
Around the 216
- A Medina County grand jury indicted a former Cleveland police task force officer and a former Lake County narcotics agent for allegedly profiling and assaulting a Texas truck driver while off-duty at a bar last year. The officers suspected the man of being a terrorist. Ideastream Public Radio
- Homicides are down 30% in Cleveland, compared to the first six months of last year. Axios But rates remain starkly higher in Cleveland compared to the suburbs. Cleveland.com
- Bipartisan state lawmakers introduced a bill to expand hate crimes to cover political affiliation and sex. NBC4
- Ohio’s attorney general says county commissioners, not sheriffs, may contract with federal officials to detain immigrants in their jails. Ohio Attorney General The ACLU of Ohio says contracts signed by sheriffs in eight counties are unlawful. Ohio Capital Journal
- Officials with the Cuyahoga County Sheriff’s Department released bodycam footage of a high-speed pursuit that killed a bystander within seven business days of the late August incident. News 5 Cleveland The updated footage release policy comes after a Marshall Project - Cleveland and News 5 Cleveland investigation into the agency’s delayed footage release.
