All of the counts allege crimes that happened from 2005 to 2010 and stem from the SCLC’s meal delivery program, according to Montgomery County Prosecutor Mathias H. Heck Jr. Heck said investigators interviewed numerous people who were supposed to receive meals through the program.
A warrant has been issued for Trammell’s arrest, and he has been given the opportunity to surrender. Officials have been in contact with his attorney, and they hope he surrenders at the jail within the hour.
“If not, he’s going to be apprehended,” Heck said.
Trammell, 74, is the former national and Dayton chairman of the SCLC. With him at the helm, the Dayton SCLC lost all public funding last year after a Dayton Daily News investigation uncovered allegations the SCLC misspent federal, state and local taxpayer money.
Trammell, who could not immediately be reached for comment, has repeatedly denied wrongdoing.
Sarah Schenck, supervisor of the consumer fraud unit of the prosecutor’s office, said the grand theft charge relates to the total amount of meals not delivered, and the tampering charges allege Trammell signed off on delivery of meals that weren’t delivered. The forgery charges have to do with contracts signed to provide those services.
A third-degree felony is punishable by up to five years in prison. A fourth-degree felony is punishable by up to 18 months in prison. A fifth-degree felony is punishable by up to a year in prison.
Last February the FBI raided the former SCLC headquarters and the Dayton homes of Trammell and his daughter, Angela Goodwine, 50, who ran some SCLC programs.
A Dayton Daily News investigation raised questions about misuse of public money by the SCLC and the Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance, which was led by Trammell and Rev. Wilburt Shanklin. The Daily News investigation found:
- The SCLC/IMA failed to provided meals to people who were supposed to be fed in a program funded by the Montgomery County Human Services Levy.
- The groups were getting Federal Emergency Management Agency money for a battered womens' shelter and food pantry that did not exist.
- The IMA had falsely claimed federal tax exempt status using a Columbus Baptist group's tax identification number without permission.
- The SCLC could not document its spending for a county-funded social services program operated under subcontract with the Urban League of Greater Dayton.
The state of Ohio withdrew funding for a youth anti-violence program operated by Goodwine, again after the SCLC couldn’t prove that it provided services or account for its spending.
In all, the SCLC and IMA lost at least $418,533 in public funding last year. The two groups have received nearly $4.4 million in public funding since 1988.
Trammell also was accused of sexual harassment by a Dayton SCLC employee, DaMisha Douglas, who filed a lawsuit in Montgomery County Common Pleas Court in August. The case is pending and a jury trial is scheduled for September. In June the Ohio Civil Rights Commission found probable cause that the SCLC allowed discrimination against Douglas.
Trammell lost his leadership positions in the SCLC at both the national and local levels last year after a protracted national fight sparked by allegations that Trammell and former SCLC national Treasurer Spiver Gordon had misappropriated at least $569,000 in national funds. The FBI is investigating those allegations.
After a rancorous battle between factions that nearly destroyed the historic civil rights organization founded by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., an Atlanta judge ruled in September that Trammell was not the rightful chairman and ordered Trammell, Shanklin, Gordon and others not to hold themselves out to be SCLC officers. Trammell also lost his local chapter chairmanship.
Trammell, pastor of Central Missionary Baptist Church, was a long-time local civil rights leader. In the 1970s, he was fired as deputy director of the Montgomery County Welfare Department, and spent time in prison after a conviction for defrauding the agency.
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-7455 or lhulsey@DaytonDailyNews.com.
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