This is The Marshall Project - Cleveland’s newsletter, a monthly digest of criminal justice news from around Ohio gathered by our staff of local journalists. Want this delivered to your inbox? Sign up for future newsletters.
Behind the story: Reporter recounts how an FBI subpoena changed attitudes and fueled Celebrezze indictment
As former Cuyahoga County Domestic Relations Judge Leslie Ann Celebrezze walked into criminal court last month to face arraignment for tampering with records, my mind raced back to early 2023, when I first started investigating her.
My goal was to explore whether Celebrezze was acting within the law when appointing her longtime friend, Mark Dottore, as a receiver in cases that paid him hundreds of thousands of dollars in fees billed to divorcing couples.
Once I started asking for records, court administrators and Celebrezze’s staff took weeks to respond. That stood out to me.
To get information, I walked the courthouse halls and knocked on doors. It did not help much — Celebrezze was the administrative judge who controlled the staff.
After our stories started publishing in June 2023, the staff took even longer to respond to my records requests. A sheriff’s deputy followed me when I roamed the halls. It was no coincidence. He was once the driver for the former sheriff who pleaded guilty to theft-in-office charges after my reporting in 2009.
Undeterred, I often waited on a bench by Celebrezze’s chambers to get comments from her. She never spoke, but her staff took plenty of photos and videos of me.
A seismic shift occurred in February 2025. That is when I learned that an FBI subpoena was delivered to the court. I knew for months that the federal agents were interviewing people in the building.
But my source was clear: Don’t ask for the subpoena until the next day. So, I arrived in the parking lot early the next morning to wait for the courthouse to open.
About 45 minutes later, a copy of the subpoena was in my hand. I felt immense professional satisfaction when I read that the FBI wanted the documents I already obtained, and others dating back to 2009.
Those court aides who had stonewalled me for months were now going out of their way to respond. Emails now ended with cheerful best wishes for a good weekend.
My phone rang off the hook on Dec. 22, 2025, with calls from public officials after The Marshall Project - Cleveland reported that Celebrezze would face a tampering with records charge for creating a false court entry to assign a divorce case to herself, and eventually Dottore as receiver. She resigned that same day.
These kinds of days don’t happen often, but I was extremely proud of the work my editors allowed me to pursue for more than two years.
We will now wait a little longer to learn Celebrezze’s punishment. She was slated to face a judge on Jan. 7, but Common Pleas Judge Lauren Moore recused herself from the case that morning as prosecutors, FBI agents and Celebrezze’s attorney waited in court. Celebrezze sat in another room with her supporters. Moore would not say why she waited weeks to recuse herself.
Ohio’s Supreme Court Chief Justice Sharon L. Kennedy has appointed Mark Wiest, a retired judge from Wayne County, to oversee Celebrezze’s case. No new hearing date has been set.
On Jan. 13, Kennedy suspended Celebrezze’s law license for two years. But if she commits no further misconduct, one year of the suspension will be stayed, according to the ruling.
Kennedy further wrote in the high court’s opinion that “judges are held to the highest possible standard of ethical conduct, and Celebrezze failed to live up to that high standard.” Kennedy also noted that an indefinite license suspension is warranted following a felony conviction, but Celebrezze has yet to be convicted.
– Mark Puente
Criminally ill: How Ohio’s mental health hospitals are failing
The colloquial definition of insanity — trying the same thing, expecting different results — is how Ohio and other states push people with severe mental illness into the criminal justice system.
The number of people referred by local judges to state psychiatric hospitals for evaluations and treatment has exploded in the past few years. Some defendants spend months in jail waiting for state beds to become available.
Experts call it a national crisis that’s gotten so bad in Ohio that state-run psychiatric hospitals can no longer serve thousands of patients with mental illness until they are charged with serious crimes.
Our year-long investigation with KFF Health News exposed how overwhelmed and understaffed state hospitals are failing taxpayers, courts and families. You can also read our explainer on how the system is supposed to work.
For more insights, tune into Ideastream’s Sound of Ideas on Thursday, Jan. 15, at 9 a.m. Stephanie Haney will host a live panel discussion that includes some of the voices from our reporting, including mothers with sons who either can’t get into or out of state psychiatric hospitals.
– Doug Livingston
Let’s connect more this year. Here’s how.
Our team at The Marshall Project - Cleveland thanks our loyal supporters and readers for standing with us. As we look ahead to 2026, we are energized by what is coming.
We have several exciting community engagement events planned for 2026. These in-person discussions will feature our journalists discussing how our journalism is created and how it impacts lives. We’ll have more details coming soon.
We are especially interested in hearing about how our reporting has impacted your life. You can email us here.
This includes work such as Mark Puente’s investigations into judicial misconduct or laws that affect not only individuals, but families who suffer alongside them.
It also includes Brittany Hailer’s reporting on the treatment of children at the Mohican Young Star Academy. These stories carry lasting consequences for families who trusted systems meant to protect their children.
We also want to hear your thoughts on Doug Livingston’s reporting on failures within the mental health system. These stories reflect the realities families face when loved ones are in crisis and the systems designed to help offer too few solutions.
If you are part of an organization, or know of an organization interested in partnering or hosting a discussion with our journalism team, please email me here. We look forward to building new partnerships and encourage you to watch for upcoming events in 2026.
– Louis Fields
Around the 216
- Last year saw a surge of defendants acting as their own attorneys in federal court in Ohio. Each defendant wound up being found guilty. Cleveland.com
- The Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation is leading the probe of a Euclid police officer who shot and killed a man who was allegedly armed with a rifle during a domestic violence incident. News5
- The Lorain County prosecutor has cleared police of any wrongdoing in connection with a July shooting in which officers killed a 28-year-old man who they said opened fire, killing a Lorain officer and injuring two others. Fox 8 News
