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Welfare activist Roth gets prison
03/30/04
Jim Nichols
Plain Dealer Reporter
David Roth's self-destruction bottomed out Monday when the former social-welfare icon pleaded guilty to racketeering, several drug felonies and obstructing justice.
The famously ponytailed founder of welfare-to-work agency Cleveland Works will spend at least five years in prison.
From Our Advertiser
His lawyers and prosecutors announced
a plea deal on what would have been the first day of Roth's trial on 43 felony counts. Roth also must pay $51,000 in fines, court costs and restitution.
The 55-year-old activist and former
r
hipp
ie was lionized nationally for his role in building two programs that spawned imitators co
ast to coast: The Cleveland Free Clinic and, later, Cleveland Works.
He advised Congress on welfare-to-work policy and helped thousands of people escape poverty and welfare, find jobs, rebuild shattered lives and even kick drugs.
But he did it as an admitted junkie whose own addiction to heroin and cocaine spiraled out of control in recent years.
His indictment last August for running a drug ring out of his publicly supported agency made national news.
And as Roth went down, so did Cleveland Works.
Two weeks ago, the agency folded, devastated by decisions by Cuyahoga County and private donors to cut off its funding.
"That was his baby," said lawyer Niki
Schwartz.
"And he feels terrible for what he did to it through his conduct that led to its demise," said Schwartz after Roth's plea hearing. Schwartz is one of Roth's lawyers
. <
br>
&quo
t;I don't think there's been anyone in my 35 years in Cleveland who has done more for the poor, downtrodden, sick and jobless than
David Roth.
"I think it's a terrible loss to the community, and David Roth intends to come back and make it up to the community."
Assistant County Prosecutor Dan Kasaris said Roth deserves no sympathy.
"We view him as a fraud," Kasaris said. "David's lust for drugs caused him to abuse the position and authority he had."
Kasaris, colleague Mark Mahoney and two investigators - Cleveland narcotics Detective Greg Whitney and Lynn Mudra of the State Board of Pharmacy - spent more than eight months building the racketeer ing case. It ultimately led to charges against Roth, two Cleveland Works ex-
employees and Mayfield Heights lawyer Charles Lazzaro, whose drug-abuse trial is scheduled to begin today.
The key figure is a Chagrin Falls ex-con named Brad Weiss, a longtime friend
of Roth
's. He told the
detectives last winter that Roth was deeply into drugs, then agreed to secretly record more than a dozen drug deals and other crimes. Roth, a close friend of Weiss' father, helped Wei
ss get an early release from a theft-related prison term in 1999.
Weiss' role has put at least five men in jail in connection with Roth and other high-profile cases, despite Weiss' continued run-ins with the law while working with the investigators.
Common Pleas Judge Bridget McCafferty allowed Roth to remain free on $250,000 bond until his formal sentencing on April 29. He will return to a drug-rehabilitation clinic in Atlanta and tend to other medical matters.
His deal calls for Roth to serve seven years but allows him to ask for early release after five, with prosecut
ors reserving the right to object.
The plea bargain dismisses nearly 30 felony charges, including one that carried a mandatory 10-year sentence and charged Roth with being a ma
jor drug tr
afficker.
Most of t
he rest are amended to soften sentences, which would run concurrently.
Prosecutor Bill Mason also charged last year that Roth, who was a defense lawyer, in 1998 threatened a key witness against a
client charged with murder, which got the case against Antoine Parker dismissed.
Roth admitted only to obstructing justice, with bribery- and perjury-related charges dropped. Reindicted, Parker awaits trial.
Schwartz said Roth could have been acquitted on some counts but agreed to the deal because the tapes and drug-yielding searches of Roth's house and garbage had him nailed on others.
The proposed sentence, Schwartz said, is harsh. "I wish there could have been more compassion and more consideration for all the good works he's done in his life."
;
To reach this Plain Dealer reporter:
jnichols@plaind.com, 216-999-4111
http://www.cleveland.com/cuyahoga/plaindea...47725168330.xml
Welfare activist Roth gets prison
03/30/04
Jim Nichols
Plain Dealer Reporter
David Roth's self-destruction bottomed out Monday when the former social-welfare icon pleaded guilty to racketeering, several drug felonies and obstructing justice.
The famously ponytailed founder of welfare-to-work agency Cleveland Works will spend at least five years in prison.
From Our Advertiser
His lawyers and prosecutors announced
a plea deal on what would have been the first day of Roth's trial on 43 felony counts. Roth also must pay $51,000 in fines, court costs and restitution.
The 55-year-old activist and former
r
hipp
ie was lionized nationally for his role in building two programs that spawned imitators co
ast to coast: The Cleveland Free Clinic and, later, Cleveland Works.
He advised Congress on welfare-to-work policy and helped thousands of people escape poverty and welfare, find jobs, rebuild shattered lives and even kick drugs.
But he did it as an admitted junkie whose own addiction to heroin and cocaine spiraled out of control in recent years.
His indictment last August for running a drug ring out of his publicly supported agency made national news.
And as Roth went down, so did Cleveland Works.
Two weeks ago, the agency folded, devastated by decisions by Cuyahoga County and private donors to cut off its funding.
"That was his baby," said lawyer Niki
Schwartz.
"And he feels terrible for what he did to it through his conduct that led to its demise," said Schwartz after Roth's plea hearing. Schwartz is one of Roth's lawyers
. <
br>
&quo
t;I don't think there's been anyone in my 35 years in Cleveland who has done more for the poor, downtrodden, sick and jobless than
David Roth.
"I think it's a terrible loss to the community, and David Roth intends to come back and make it up to the community."
Assistant County Prosecutor Dan Kasaris said Roth deserves no sympathy.
"We view him as a fraud," Kasaris said. "David's lust for drugs caused him to abuse the position and authority he had."
Kasaris, colleague Mark Mahoney and two investigators - Cleveland narcotics Detective Greg Whitney and Lynn Mudra of the State Board of Pharmacy - spent more than eight months building the racketeer ing case. It ultimately led to charges against Roth, two Cleveland Works ex-
employees and Mayfield Heights lawyer Charles Lazzaro, whose drug-abuse trial is scheduled to begin today.
The key figure is a Chagrin Falls ex-con named Brad Weiss, a longtime friend
of Roth
's. He told the
detectives last winter that Roth was deeply into drugs, then agreed to secretly record more than a dozen drug deals and other crimes. Roth, a close friend of Weiss' father, helped Wei
ss get an early release from a theft-related prison term in 1999.
Weiss' role has put at least five men in jail in connection with Roth and other high-profile cases, despite Weiss' continued run-ins with the law while working with the investigators.
Common Pleas Judge Bridget McCafferty allowed Roth to remain free on $250,000 bond until his formal sentencing on April 29. He will return to a drug-rehabilitation clinic in Atlanta and tend to other medical matters.
His deal calls for Roth to serve seven years but allows him to ask for early release after five, with prosecut
ors reserving the right to object.
The plea bargain dismisses nearly 30 felony charges, including one that carried a mandatory 10-year sentence and charged Roth with being a ma
jor drug tr
afficker.
Most of t
he rest are amended to soften sentences, which would run concurrently.
Prosecutor Bill Mason also charged last year that Roth, who was a defense lawyer, in 1998 threatened a key witness against a
client charged with murder, which got the case against Antoine Parker dismissed.
Roth admitted only to obstructing justice, with bribery- and perjury-related charges dropped. Reindicted, Parker awaits trial.
Schwartz said Roth could have been acquitted on some counts but agreed to the deal because the tapes and drug-yielding searches of Roth's house and garbage had him nailed on others.
The proposed sentence, Schwartz said, is harsh. "I wish there could have been more compassion and more consideration for all the good works he's done in his life."
;
To reach this Plain Dealer reporter:
jnichols@plaind.com, 216-999-4111
