Pumper delivered $33,000 cash to Jimmy Dimora before 'panic city' and 'scrambling' after FBI raids

AKRON, Ohio - Federal government witness Steven Pumper told  jurors he gave then-county commissioner Jimmy Dimora $33,000 in cash before "panic city" and "scrambling" took place following FBI raids on county offices in 2008.

Pumper told jurors he would "go over to his house in the morning... and give him an envelope of cash" every two weeks, referring to regular morning visits he made to Dimora's home in Independence.

During one of his last payments to Dimora, Pumper said he told Dimora he owed him about $2,500 but Dimora said, "No, we're at about $5,000." Pumper said he later checked his records of the bribe payments, which he computerized on his Quicken accounting software, and Dimora was correct with the $5,000 balance.

Pumper said he was only able to pay $33,000 of the agreed-upon amount of $35,000 due to Dimora, though, because of the FBI raids.

"It was panic city. Everyone was scrambling," Pumper said.

The money Pumper gave Dimora came from a "consulting fee" Pumper testified he got from developer Harvey Oppmann, who was selling to Cuyahoga County a parking garage he owned next to the Ameritrust building in downtown Cleveland. The sale was moving slowly and Pumper intervened on Oppmann's behalf with Dimora, who prosecutors said helped expedite the county purchase.

Pumper told jurors Oppmann paid him $250,000. Oppmann has not been charged in the federal conspiracy case.

But when Pumper went back to Dimora, he said he told Dimora he made less than what he testified Oppmann gave him.

"I told him I was going to make $150,000 on it, not the $250,000," Pumper testified.

After deducting taxes and other items from the $150,000, Pumper said he and Dimora agreed to split the remaining amount with Dimora getting $35,000.

Just before a lunch break in the trial, jurors also heard Pumper tell of how he came around to cooperating with the FBI.

Pumper said he met a former housing inspector, Bobby Cuevas, at a Boston Market restaurant in Parma. He told jurors he gave Cuevas an envelope with $2,000 in cash as a bribe. As the two men exited the building, one from the front and the other from the back of the restaurant, they were each approached by FBI agents who witnessed the transaction.

Pumper testified the agents showed their credentials and he got in the car with them. He said he initially lied, telling them the money was a loan and not a bribe, but they told him they knew it was a bribe and wanted him to cooperate with an investigation of corruption in the building department.

"There's no frickin' way I'm going to work with these guys," Pumper said he was thinking at the time. The FBI told him to think about it overnight and let them know the next morning, he said.

Pumper said it was at that time he brought up Dimora and then-Auditor Frank Russo. "Frank was really out there doing a lot of stuff; Jimmy not as much," Pumper told jurors.

Unknown to him at the time, Pumper gave the FBI their first major break on a much larger case that turned into the largest federal corruption investigation in Cuyahoga County history.

"I know you guys are maybe looking for Mr Dimora and Mr. Russo but I can't give you any information on that," Pumper said he told the FBI. Pumper told jurors he felt he could get out of any situation with the FBI because Dimora and Russo had connections with judges and politicians.

"I got out of their car and got into my car. I said 'oh shit,'" Pumper testified. He said he then realized that Cuevas had set him up.

Pumper contacted his attorney and later agreed to cooperate with federal officials in testifying against Dimora. Pumper has pleaded guilty to nine federal charges including bribery, obstruction of justice and lying to the FBI, and is awaiting sentencing.

Dimora and co-defendant Michael Gabor have maintained their innocence of all federal charges.

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