Cleveland Municipal Court web site fails in filtering private information

On August 26, 2010, the Cleveland Plain Dealer ran a story stating that the Cleveland Municipal Court web site was temporarily being shut down because it was putting private information online. Court spokesman Ed Ferenc declined to say what private data was put online, but that it was information that should only have been accessible in-house, not to the public. Ferenc said this private information would be filtered out once new software was installed.

Here we are two years later and I've noticed something strange about the court's site. Normally when you pull up a court record it does not display the defendant's driver's license number. However, every once in awhile the driver's license number is displayed. License numbers, like Social Security numbers, are sought after by criminals who engage in identity theft.

I assume this information is not supposed to be displayed to the public, and usually it's not.But take a look at  one example I screen captured. This weekend I pulled up the same record twice. One time the license number was not displayed, but the other time it was.

Here's how a court record normally looks:

The arrow points to where the license number would be displayed, which I assume is never supposed to be displayed to the public.

But look at the very same record pulled up at another time:

The license number is displayed for anyone to see!

It appears the Cleveland Municipal Court's web site is still not properly filtering private information from the public's view. If you'd like to try this yourself at the court's web site, be advised that the glitch rarely occurs. However, rarely is not good enough. It should never occur. I'm a regular user of the site and I've noticed this happen twice in just the last week. This is unacceptable.

The web site should be shut down until they fix this issue, which hopefully will not take another two years.

The Plain Dealer noted Cleveland was the last big city in Ohio to get its court files online, at a cost of many millions of dollars. What sort of incompetence is going on that the web site continues to expose sensitive, private information to public view?

Notes in the aftermath of the horrific crash at the Dancin' in the Streets festival in Cleveland

On Sunday, July 29, a car driven by Lakewood resident Timothy Spock crashed through a barricade in Cleveland at West 117th and Clifton Blvd, plowing over folks enjoying the Dancin' in the Streets summer festival, an event raising awareness for AIDS and HIV. Spock was driving a Scion XB and is alleged to have been under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs. Basil Bass and Mitchell Andelmo were killed, while Constance Pokorny and Kevin Kevin Litt were among the injured. Spock is being held on a $150,000 bond awaiting indictment on multiple counts of aggravated vehicular homicide and aggravated vehicular assault.

My heartfelt condolences go out the families and friends of Basil Bass and Mitchell Andelmo. My prayers go out to Constance Pokorny and Kevin Litt, hoping for their full recovery from injuries. 

San Diego Gay & Lesbian News asks why there weren't better barricades set up to protect festival-goers. They also wonder why this horrific tragedy at a popular LGBT event is not being more widely reported.

The local news has told us that Spock had at least three prior OVI convictions. I located Spock's prior OVI convictions at the Willoughby Municipal Court web site. Spock's OVI cases occurred in 1998, 2006, and 2007. Spock has had other alcohol-related offenses, including a first degree misdemeanor child endangerment case in Lakewood. I do not know what, if any, cases he has had elsewhere. 

In Spock's 2007 OVI case, the court said: "The above named defendant is hereby ordered to obtain restricted plates." 

This is an example of restricted plates:

By 2008, Spock was apparently free from this, as he posted an image on his MySpace page noting that he had white plates on his Scion:

Look at the caption: "I have white plates."  

This is the same Scion that plowed into the Dancin' on the Streets festival this past Sunday. We do not know yet what the blood tests will show, but if he was under the influence it will mean that after three prior OVI convictions, and restricted plates ordered on his car, he failed to learn his lesson. I don't know what was going through Spock's mind when he posted the pic of his Scion and noted he finally had white plates, but I have the feeling he was treating this very lightly. 

So what will happen to Spock now?  Again, we still don't know the results of his blood test. 

I recall a drunk driving case in Cleveland from a year and a half ago where a driver, Takara Kelley, was under the influence of alcohol, cocaine, and marijuana, crashed into a car on Franklin Avenue in Cleveland, killing two grandparents and injuring their grandchildren. I remember that case because I happened to have been in the neighborhood at the time and saw the wreckage shortly after the crash. It was horrific and sent chills down my spine. 

Kelley was driving 78mph in a 35 zone, with a suspended license, and ran a red light. The judge sentenced her to 31 years in prison. It broke down as 10 years for each person she killed, plus 7 years plus 2 years plus 2 years for the other charges. She's serving these sentences consecutively for a total of 31 years. 

Will Spock be facing such a stiff sentence? I'm not sure. A quick browse of the Ohio Revised Code leads me to believe that Takara Kalley was charged with first degree felonies because of her suspended license. Therefore she was facing 10-15 years for each person she killed. 

It does not appear Spock's license was suspended. Another way Spock would face first degree felony charges would be if his three prior OVI convictions occurred within the last 6 years. It appears he had only two within 6 years. If Spock was drunk he will, however, be facing at least second degree felony charges for the two people he's accused of killing, as well as felonies for the people he injured. Second degree felonies carry 2-8 year sentences. 

I'm not sure what sentence should be imposed on Spock if he's guilty of killing and injuring these people while under the influence. However, this is a cautionary tale for anyone who takes drunk driving lightly. Look at the damage that was done. And not just to the victims, but also to Spock himself, and his family.  Whatever happens to Spock, he'll have to live with this for the rest of his life. We all should remember incidents like this so that when we're ever tempted to get behind the wheel while under the influence we'll stop ourselves. We should also be more vigilante about keeping others in our lives from getting behind the wheel when they're unfit to drive.