Coyne to Appear in Court Friday

Former Councilman Pat Coyne is scheduled to appear in U.S. District Court Friday morning to answer to federal charges.

An arraignment is set for 10 a.m. before Judge Patricia A. Gaughan.

Coyne, who May 6, a few days before he was arrested for bribery, has been relating to accepting bribes and running a fraudulent investment scheme that allegedly bilked an investor out of $32,000.

His attorney, Craig Weintraub, could not be reached for comment. However, it has been reported that Coyne is expected to plead guilty.

The charges allege he accepted four $5,000 bribes from Hinckley developer David Terry for favorable consideration of Terry's Strongsville projects. Terry has pleaded guilty to bribery.

Coyne, who used to work for the Cuyahoga County Coroner's office, is also accused of making deals to have a relative of Terry's hired by a county department if he hired another applicant in his department. He was fired from the coroner's office in October.

The charges also claim that in March of this year, while he was being investigated for bribery, Coyne got an acquaintance to invest $32,000 in a Krispy Kreme doughnut franchise he said was being built in Brunswick. Krispy Kreme was not planning to build there and Coyne was not representing the company, authorities said.

Coyne was charged through an information rather than by indictment, which typically means he is cooperating with investigators.

He is currently free on $50,000 bond and is wearing a GPS tracking monitor.