Former Cuyahoga County Domestic Relations Court Judge Leslie Celebrezze has pleaded guilty to one felony charge of tampering with records and will be sentenced at a later date.
Celebrezze was charged in December, and with Wednesday's plea, admitted to assigning a 2023 divorce court case to herself and claiming the assignment was made randomly.
The now-retired judge appeared in Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas, with her attorney Ian Friedman, to enter the plea. She made no additional comments.
Following reporting by Marshall Project-Cleveland in 2023 on Celebrezze鈥檚 history of steering lucrative divorce casework to a close friend and former treasurer for her political campaign, Mark Dottore, the state鈥檚 disciplinary board recommended a two-year suspension, and the FBI launched an investigation.
Retired Wayne County Common Pleas Court Judge Mark Wiest is overseeing the case after recusals by several Cuyahoga County judges.
鈥淎t this point, I don鈥檛 know anything about you other than that you were a judge and that you are going to plead guilty to this offense,鈥� Wiest said.
Wiest ordered a presentencing report but indicated he鈥檚 inclined to sentence Celebrezze to probation. Prosecutors did not request jail time and said this case resolves all state and federal investigations, meaning Celebrezze is not facing additional charges.
dates back to Celebrezze鈥檚 father鈥檚 time on the bench and was considered a controversial practice then. Leslie Celebrezze took over her father鈥檚 seat on the Domestic Relations Court after his retirement in 2008.
According to reporting by the Marshall Project-Cleveland, Celebrezze for Dottore Companies, LLC between January 2017 and June 2023 and appointed either Dottore or his daughter to be the receiver in six of the eight cases Celebrezze was handling.
Dottore told the Marshall Project the investigations were a 鈥渨itch hunt鈥� and that he 鈥渘ever took anything鈥� from Celebrezze.
Wiest said he will set a date for sentencing after the presentencing report is completed.
