Old text messages have surfaced that are raising questions among Cleveland’s LGTBQ+ communities about a police officer recently tapped by Mayor Justin Bibb to command the second police district — home to a large number of LGBTQ+ residents and the LGBT Community Center of Greater Cleveland.
The acting commander, Tim Maffo-Judd, has apologized and said he wants to work to rebuild trust with the community. But some residents remain skeptical of him, the police department and the city, which said it stands by his promotion and expects him to rebuild trust with the community.
Like so many controversies involving the Cleveland Division of Police in the last decade, this one started with a lawsuit.
In 2021, Maffo-Judd, then a lieutenant who had been removed as head of the bomb squad unit, sued the city and former Police Chief Calvin Williams, then-Public Safety Director Karrie Howard and two other police officers.
Maffo-Judd claimed his removal as officer-in-charge of the bomb squad was in retaliation for his role in a bribery case involving a fellow officer.
A judge dismissed Maffo-Judd's lawsuit against the city in 2023, six weeks after the city argued, among other things, that the decision to remove him as leader of the bomb squad was based on performance issues that had nothing to do with the bribery investigation.
The outside counsel for the city, in defending against Maffo-Judd's suit, filed a brief that included a series of text messages among bomb squad members that showed Maffo-Judd had used homophobic slurs. The lawyers got those messages from a complaint filed against Maffo-Judd by a member of the bomb squad in June, 2022.
In September, 2022, after the complaint about Maffo-Judd was made and while the lawsuit was still pending, the city promoted Maffo-Judd to captain.
This month, more than a year after the city's lawyers filed the brief showing his use of homophobic slurs, Maffo-Judd was promoted to acting commander of the second district.
The second district covers much of the city's near West Side, including Tremont and Ohio City, home to the LGBT Community Center of Greater Cleveland and a sizeable population of LGBTQ+ residents.
The messages, according to a former LGBT center employee, show Maffo-Judd should not be in command, especially in the second district. The former employee asked to be identified by their moniker, Sparkplug, because of safety concerns. Sparkplug is Black and queer.
“From the LGBT Center leading up to Lakewood is known as kind of like the queer safe haven in Cleveland,” they said. “Going to the LGBT Center was my first time ever being surrounded by people who were just like me and feeling affirmed, feeling safe, generally like I don't feel like I'm going to be persecuted for my queerness.”
The messages make Sparkplug question whether Maffo-Judd will be effective as the area's commander.
“I think that there's going to be a lot of incidents being reported and them not taking them as seriously as they should," they said. "It just makes me really sad and feel really scared for the people that are over there and makes me not feel comfortable being over there.”
Ideastream reached out to leadership at the LGBT center but did not get a response.
Maffo-Judd said in an interview with Ideastream Public Media that he was sorry for his homophobic texts.
“I apologize. It was definitely wrong to say," he said. "And I’ve taken some steps, some professional development, since then. You know, this was six years ago.”
Maffo-Judd said he views these messages coming to light as an opportunity.
“We’ve all made mistakes. I am no different. Everybody is human, and you know what? I think it’s good that this happened," he said. "We can take steps to interact with the community. I’d like to start an LGBTQ and Blue program and sit down and address these face-to-face with those members of that community.”
Mayor Justin Bibb appoints Cleveland police commanders from a pool of candidates recommended by the department.
Bibb was not aware of the complaint or messages prior to making the appointment, a city spokesperson said.
“Cleveland Division of Police leadership met with Maffo-Judd this week upon learning about the incident, and the Mayor’s Office has been made aware of the ongoing conversations. As we continue building an equitable, diverse, and welcoming Cleveland, Maffo-Judd is expected to continue his service with respect, inclusion, and support for all individuals, while regaining the trust of our community,” the spokesperson wrote in a statement.
He added that the administration “trusts” Maffo-Judd to continue in his role as commander.
The text messages first came to light in 2022, when Vincent Schneider, a member of Cleveland's bomb squad, filed a complaint against Maffo-Judd. The city's lawyers used information from that complaint in their filing refuting his lawsuit.
Schneider wrote that he felt targeted by Maffo-Judd and others because “these individuals were well aware that my brother and personal friends were members of the LGBTQ community.”
Schneider declined to comment for this story and said his complaint was the subject of an ongoing city investigation.
A police spokesperson confirmed the complaint went to the department’s internal affairs unit and then to human resources. But more than two years later, the spokesperson would not share the status of the complaint.
The city's handling of the complaint and Maffo-Judd's promotion also raises concerns about the city administration, said Sarah Young, who lives in the second police district in an "overwhelmingly queer household."
“It reinforces one of the biggest reasons that I tend to try and avoid dealing with police, which is that when people exhibit the best behavior, which is trying to maintain professionalism within the department, calling out when things are a problem, those are the people who get punished and the people who are actually doing it, you know, fail upward,” Young said.
Young isn't the only person to question the city's police promotion practices.
In September, lawyers for the U.S. Department of Justice criticized Cleveland for failing to enact new policies on promotions during a hearing on Cleveland’s 10-year-old police consent decree.
The city said it was working on a new set of policies for all promotions and that those would be ready sometime next year.
For Sarah Young, plans aren’t enough. The possibility that the mayor appointed Maffo-Judd while he or other officials in his administration knew about this history is troubling, she said.
“It feels more like a betrayal from the city than it does from the cops,” said Young. “Because I didn't trust the cops to start with, but the city, I mean, I've got my frustrations, but I expected them to do better than this. Absolutely.”
