CLEVELAND -- Former Cuyahoga County Auditor Frank Russo and former Cuyahoga County Commissioner Jimmy Dimora are still residing in Cuyahoga County's jail instead of serving their time in federal prison after being found guilty on corruption charges.
Dimora has been there 72 days. Russo checked in 46 days ago.
Exactly why they are there is still not clear.
Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Tim McGinty is conducting his own investigation of other aspects of Cuyahoga County corruption, including circumstances surrounding the county's ill-fated purchase of the Ameritrust complex for a headquarters project that never happened.
It's believed the pair are being questioned as part of that probe. Dimora had previously refused to cooperate with federal prosecutors. Russo flipped and testified against Dimora and other defendants.
Both Prosecutor's Spokesman Joe Frolik and Sheriff's Spokesman John O'Brien confirm their ongoing presence, but declined to provide more specifics about their stay.
Dimora, 58, is serving a 28-year sentence after his 2012 conviction on 33 counts. He filed an appeal of that conviction in April 2013. Russo, 63, has been in federal prison in Loretto, Pennsylvania since Nov. 16, 2012. He reached a plea deal with federal prosecutors early in the probe and was sentenced to 22 years in prison.
Russo and Dimora were the top targets of the FBI/IRS Cuyahoga County corruption probe that began a year before the very public July 28, 2008 raids by more than 200 agents at county offices and some Northeast Ohio businesses.
