Orlando Chappell, a former deputy clerk with the courts, was accused in the U.S. Northern District of Ohio of two counts of federal program theft, for embezzling federal assistance funds in 2020 and 2021.
Under his duty as fee collector, Chappell is accused of redirecting cash fines and costs that landlords owed to the cash drawer at the courts into his own pockets, and meanwhile not processing the eviction claims the landlords were paying for.
“To avoid detection, Defendant processed the forcible entry and detainer filings but did not initiate the payment transactions into the Municipal Court’s case management software,” the case filing reads, “which caused Defendant’s cash drawer to match the cash payments” in the software.”
Chappell worked for the East Cleveland court system from 2012 to 2018, then again from 2019 to September of 2023.
Henry Hilow, Chappell’s lawyer, did not respond to a request for comment. He told Cleveland.com that Chappell has “accepted responsibility for his actions,” and intends to plead guilty.
The charges against Chappell come amidst yet another period of political change in a city that’s never been quite immune to it.
Last Wednesday, disgraced former East Cleveland Mayor Brandon King was sentenced to two years of probation for directing tens of thousands of dollars of city contracts into his family’s businesses, a violation of state law.
And on Friday, former City Councilman Lateek Shabazz officially became mayor, taking over for Interim Mayor Sandra Morgan’s seat after a court ruled he was the legal successor after King’s departure.
One of Shabazz’s first major actions leaned heavily on corruption cleanup when the new mayor fired Police Chief Kenneth Lundy. Shabazz told press on Monday that Lundy had overstayed what should have been a temporary post of no more than 180 days and had not taken requisite civil service examinations during his promotions.
“I don’t know why other mayors didn’t get rid of him,” Shabazz told WKYC from his desk on Tuesday. “But he can’t be working under me with those qualifications.”
Chappell himself is expected to plead guilty. He doesn’t yet have an arraignment date.
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This article appears in Cleveland SCENE 7/16/25.