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Whatever happened to all the people swept up in counterfeit-purse parties?
The short answer is: Not much.
A 49-year-old Stark County woman ultimately pleaded guilty to peddling fake Louis Vuitton, Chanel and other designer bags in May. A judge sentenced Cathy Jo DeMeio to three years of probation, a $2,500 fine and $2,282 in restitution. The judge suspended a three-year prison sentence.
The attention that case and others drew has pushed many purse parties underground, according to Tim Richissin, a Cleveland police sergeant and private investigator for a brand-protection and security firm that monitors counterfeiters.
Yet the counterfeit business continues to thrive, he said.
Investigators have seized about $10 million worth of knock-offs in Greater Cleveland this year, including 25,000 pairs of counterfeit shoes and boots. One of the larger busts involved 360 -- a chain of five stores that became an overnight success selling hip-hop gear in the Warehouse District, Garfield Heights and Cleveland, Richissin said.
Many of the faces involved in the local counterfeiting scams aren't new to police. They're often the same men who made millions of dollars in stolen baby formula and food stamps, he said.
"They'll counterfeit anything -- from pharmaceuticals and medical supplies to T-shirts and tennis shoes," Richissin said.
--Amanda Garrett
How have SuccessTech Academy and the Cleveland School District dealt with the October shootings?
One of the wounded teachers, David Kachadourian, has returned to work. The other, Michael Grassie, is still recuperating, said district Chief Executive Eugene Sanders.
The tragedy was a pivotal point for the Cleveland public schools, Sanders said. Safety has become even more of a priority, as has the need to detect problems before they lead to tragedy, he said.
The district plans to begin installing the first of 126 metal detectors during the holiday break, said Dan Burns, chief operating officer. Previously, portable detectors were used for random searches or when there were signs of trouble.
Metal detectors in all schools, additional security, and more nurses, social workers and psychologists to deal with the emotional needs of students will cost $7.5 million, Burns said.
Meanwhile, a long-overdue revision of the district's $1 billion school construction plan has become another casualty of the shootings.
When the shootings happened, Sanders was about to begin an intensive sales pitch to parents on what schools might be rebuilt or renovated and which ones will have work postponed or be eliminated from the plan. Community meetings now will be delayed until after the holidays.
Joanne DeMarco, president of the Cleveland Teachers Union, believes that SuccessTech has changed the district's focus. "But we'll get back on track," she said.
-- Joseph L. Wagner
WHATEVER HAPPENED TO...
This is one of a series of Plain Dealer stories following up on the events of 2007. Find more at www.cleveland.com/whateverhappened
• Jan. 5: Police put squeeze on boa suspects
Whatever happened to the boa constrictor stolen from a Cleveland Heights pet store?
Larry had his 15 minutes of fame as the booty in a pet store heist executed so comically that it wound up in newspapers across North America.
But a day in captivity and resulting glare of the spotlight didn't seem to faze the red-tail boa. The Cleveland Heights pet store sold the snake to a good home shortly after police recovered him last December.
At last report, Larry was doing quite well.
"He kind of looked like he had blown it all off," said Rob Steffens, general manager of Petland of the Heights, who saw Larry a couple of months after he was sold. "It takes more than that to traumatize a snake."
According to police, a 15-year-old boy wrapped the 30-inch baby boa around his neck and hid it under his jacket as his mother acted as a lookout.
A return to the scene of the heist the next day to inquire about caring for boa constrictors did the snake-nappers in. Clerks recognized the pair from video surveillance footage of the heist and called police, who arrived a minute later and arrested the tandem.
The mother pleaded no contest and was found guilty in June of petty theft, a first-degree misdemeanor. She was sentenced to 180 days in jail, 173 days of which were suspended. The woman spent seven days in jail after her arrest.
Her son, now 16, satisfactorily completed probation this month.
-- Joel Rutchick
WHATEVER HAPPENED TO...
This is one of a series of Plain Dealer stories following up on the events of 2007. Find more at www.cleveland.com/whateverhappened
• March 28: A castle fit for King James
• April 28: LeBron neighbors put off by gawkers
Is LeBron James' Summit County castle complete? And are the neighbors still annoyed by the fan traffic?
The Bath Township mansion is far from finished -- its only resident is an around-the-clock security guard. But gawkers still flock to LeBron James' new pad.
"I can't complain about the guy," said one woman, whose home -- like the rest of the neighborhood -- is a more modest colonial. "But there's 10 times more cars."
Day after day, tourists drive the unmarked road, past the "No Through Road" sign, to see the 35,000-square-foot behemoth with its 8,700 square-foot pool house. Then, they turn around in nearby driveways and motor away, toward Ohio 18 and nearby Interstate 77.
"Obviously we're concerned about the traffic," Bath Township Administrator Bill Snow said earlier this year. "At the same token, being a public road, we can't stop people from driving."
Last summer, the Board of Zoning Appeals approved five variances, allowing a taller fence and gatehouses in the front yard.
The castle -- with a bowling alley, barbershop, casino and poker terrace -- is to welcome the Cavs superstar next summer. Perhaps in time for James to attend the neighborhood's annual steak and lobster dinner.
-- Laura Johnston
WHATEVER HAPPENED TO...
This is one of a series of Plain Dealer stories following up on the events of 2007. Find more at www.cleveland.com/whateverhappened
•Jan. 6: Mosque ex-leader Damra deported to Middle East
• Jan. 27: Damra vows to be a force for peace
• Timeline
What happened to the leader of Ohio's largest mosque after he was deported?
After losing a years-long battle to defend his reputation, his livelihood and, finally, his U.S. citizenship, Fawaz Damra this year began a new life in occupied Palestine.
He's selling drapes, teaching some college courses, and raising three American-born daughters in the West Bank city of Ramallah.
Damra's wife, Nesreen, sold the house in Strongsville and the family's discount store in Euclid, and in the fall, moved with the girls to the Holy Land.
The family's American story is over. A new one is just begun.
Damra, 46, the former spiritual leader of the Islamic Center of Cleveland, is forever barred from America. He was convicted of lying on his citizenship application by hiding past ties to terrorist groups and stripped of his citizenship. On Jan. 3, he was deported.
His mother, father and several brothers and sisters greeted him in his hometown of Nablus. The children, meanwhile, finished the school year in Strongsville and prepared for a major move.
Nesreen Damra, like her husband, was born and raised in the West Bank. But the girls -- now 12, 16 and 17 -- face a new culture and a new language.
Life has not been easy for the family, say friends and former colleagues. Damra's beloved father died this year. Damra's forte, Islamic law, a rare skill in America, is relatively common in the Holy Land. He has been unable to find another job as an imam.
"He's doing all right. Poor guy, he's selling draperies" from a friend's shop, said Zahid Siddiqi, the general secretary of the Islamic Center of Cleveland.
He's also teaching English and theology at local colleges and hoping to one day introduce some of the interfaith efforts he pioneered here, said Mo Abdrabboh, Damra's former lawyer.
"He's gotten to reunite with his family, and he said that is a blessing," Abdrabboh said.
-- Robert L. Smith
WHATEVER HAPPENED TO...
This is one of a series of Plain Dealer stories following up on the events of 2007. Find more at www.cleveland.com/whateverhappened
•Feb. 1: Bold plan geared to raising scores, graduation rates
• July 12: ACLU against same-sex schools
• July 25: Sanders details new dress policy, Ginn Academy for boys
• Aug. 7: Same-gender schools are slow to reach enrollment goals
How are things going at the Cleveland School District's new single-gender academies?
When four elementary schools (two for boys and two for girls) and Ginn Academy for high school boys opened this fall, only Ginn Academy had reached its enrollment target.
Now, one of the elementaries is slightly over its goal of 120 students, in kindergarten through grade two. And the others aren't that far behind, with enrollments of 97, 102 and 105.
At Ginn Academy, named after Glenville High football and track coach Ted Ginn Sr., more than 150 ninth- and 10th-graders make a statement in their required uniforms: red blazers, white shirts, black pants, black leather shoes, striped ties and black book bags, adorned with the school logo.
It's a look that freshman Bashir Muhammad, 15, doesn't mind. "I like feeling professional," he said.
Ginn Academy already has outgrown its space on the first floor of the former Health Careers School and will need a bigger location next fall when the new freshmen enter.
Though a fair number of Ginn students are in foster homes or familiar with the juvenile justice system, many others simply need extra academic and emotional attention, said Principal Sheree Ray.
"With the lack of male role models, I felt that this would be a good school," said math teacher Terrell Reddix, one of three black men out of a teaching staff of nine. "I don't think too many people thought we were going to succeed. But we're going to be around for a long time."
-- Angela Townsend
WHATEVER HAPPENED TO...
This is one of a series of Plain Dealer stories following up on the events of 2007. Find more at www.cleveland.com/whateverhappened
•Jan. 11: City fails to collect parking tax from lots
• Feb. 1: Jackson offers mixed financial forecast for Cleveland
Is the free ride over for dozens of Cleveland parking lot operators?
In January, The Plain Dealer reported as many as 60 parking lot operators were skirting an 8 percent tax levied to help pay for Cleveland Browns Stadium.
City officials were unsure how much the city had failed to collect, mainly because they were unsure exactly how many unauthorized lots were getting away with it.
Owners who have been paying the tax cried foul. So did City Council members.
A few weeks later, Mayor Frank Jackson said he hoped to pull in more revenue by cracking down on the parking lot owners who weren't paying. But specifics never emerged.
Sharon Dumas, the city's finance chief, said some of the delinquents have come forward voluntarily and paid their taxes. But a massive collection effort has yet to take place.
Dumas said one obstacle is the small staff in the Assessment and License division, which collects the parking taxes.
"There are only two auditors on staff for the entire city," she said.
Money from the tax also goes to Cleveland schools and to pay for basic city services, such as fire, police and street cleaning. The city reported collecting about $10 million in parking taxes in 2005, the latest year figures are available.
Looking to 2008, Dumas said the city plans to hire more internal and external auditors to better identify those who aren't paying and collect from them. The extra auditors also will help find revenue in "other areas where we have shortcomings," Dumas said.
-- Henry J. Gomez
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