EAST CLEVELAND - East Cleveland police and city employees face tough questions after racy pictures, allegedly of their mayor, are leaked to the media.

Nearly two four pictures were sent to Fox 8 and other media outlets, showing a man in various poses, wearing women's lingerie, and makeup...some were too graphic to air. The anonymous person who sent them, claims they are of East Cleveland Mayor Eric Brewer. Brewer will not say whether the pictures are of him. "My opponent and his supporters, along with members of the East Cleveland police department, have circulated pictures they have claimed to be of me throughout the city," Brewer said at a Thursday morning news conference. Brewer claims members of his own police force sent the racy photos to the media. Fox 8 has obtained this letter from Brewer to all city employees, demanding they give statements about what they know about the photos. "I would think it would be a shame cause they all work for the same people and that's the community," said East Cleveland resident Thomas Moss. Brewer's memo orders anyone associated with the photos to give a statement to a deputy prosecuting attorney. It says they must "identify the name of the elected or appointed official who either provided them with a copy or showed them pictures of obscene material on city property and on city time." He wants to know where the offense occurred, the date and time, and whether they were shown or given the pictures... the deadline was 1:00 Friday afternoon. "Instead of enforcing state laws that prohibit the dissemination of obscene materials, I have been informed that members of the East Cleveland police department, along with the chief of police, were actively engaged in their dissemination," Brewer said Thursday. Brewer says the memo is also "being provided to the US Postal Inspector with a request for an investigation." The mayor claims officers are retaliating because he is cracking down on police misconduct and was about to ask for a federal investigation of the force. "You don't want to have cops on one side, and the mayor on one side, we need everybody on this team," said East Cleveland business owner Amar Almeraisi. The police union and Brewer's opponent, Gary Norton, both say they had nothing to do with sending the pictures. An attorney for the police union says East Cleveland officers were called in to make statements about the pictures today, until a union representative put a stop to the questioning.

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Reference: livejournal.com

Dated 2009-09-28