Former Cincinnati councilman pleads ‘no contest’ in ‘Gang of Five’ scandal

CINCINNATI — Wendell Young on Wednesday pled “no contest” to a second-degree misdemeanor charge of tampering with evidence connected with the 2018 “Gang of Five” text messaging scandal.

Young was ordered to pay a $100 fine for deleting text messages connected to the Gang of Five scandal after a judge ordered him not to do so.

A no contest plea means a defendant allows the court to find them guilty, without actually admitting guilt.

Without the plea, Young would have faced trial in December. He was indicted in April on a felony charge of tampering with evidence.

The scandal that sparked the years-delayed indictment revolved around a group of council members — Young, plus fellow Democrats P.G. Sittenfeld, Tamaya Dennard, Greg Landsman and Chris Seelbach — who admitted they had texted and emailed each other about city business.

Their actions violated

Ohio’s Open Meetings Act, which requires all public meetings be open to public viewing.

Neither City Council nor the Ohio Supreme Court opted to suspend Young from his council seat following his indictment; Young reached his term limit on council and was not able to run for re-election in November.

Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters announced in September 2020 that there won’t be any further charges in the Gang of Five case. U.S. attorney and special prosecutor Pat Hanley said the tampering with evidence investigation was closed in a letter to Deters and the Cincinnati city solicitor.

Since that scandal, Dennard was arrested for corruption charges and sentenced to 18 months in prison following her guilty plea in 2020.

Sittenfeld faces trial in June 2022 after he became the third council member arrested on public corruption charges. Jeff Pastor was the second, but he was not involved in the Gang of Five incident.