Jul 30, 2019
This should be attributed to Dennis M. Clough, President, RTA Board of Trustees, and Mayor of Westlake.
CLEVELAND, Oh -- The Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority (RTA) Board of Trustees has learned that former Board President George F. Dixon III will plead guilty to charges of theft in office during his 24-year tenure at RTA and has agreed to pay $132,000 in restitution, which represents unpaid health insurance premium dollars. Today's agreement is a result of an investigation directed by the Board of Trustees and conducted by RTA’s Internal Audit department. In 2018, the Board referred the findings of that investigation to the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor's Office.
Mr. Dixon abused the public's trust for personal benefit. We are encouraged to see that justice is being served. We do not tolerate abuse of taxpayer money, and we have controls in place to prevent this from happening again.
Mr. Dixon, who served as RTA board president for 24 years, resigned March 29, 2018 at the board's request. RTA is pursuing, through insurance claim recovery, the more than $1.1 million in healthcare benefits and unpaid premiums for insurance provided by RTA for a 24-year period ending on March 1, 2018. The Board policy at the time stated that trustees could enroll in RTA's healthcare plan but had to pay 100% of the healthcare premiums to be eligible. The investigation showed that Mr. Dixon enrolled in April of 1994 and never fully paid his premiums in accordance with board policies. The Board changed the policy in May 2018: Trustees are no longer eligible for RTA's healthcare plan.
Any further questions about this matter should be directed to the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor's Office.
Media Contact:
Linda Scardilli Krecic
216-356-3104
216-390-9605