Mentor attorney arrested in Columbiana County on sex crime charges
Agents with the Mahoning Valley Human Trafficking Task Force arrested an attorney seeking to buy sex during an undercover operation, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost and Mahoning County Sheriff Jerry Greene announced April 25.
Jeffrey McGaffick, 62, of Mentor, was arrested and charged with engaging in prostitution and possession of criminal tools. McGaffick is an attorney whose Cleveland-area practice includes real estate title work. He also purports to have served as a part-time acting municipal court judge in Mentor.
McGaffick was arraigned April 25 in Columbiana County.
Municipal Court and he was released on a recognizance bond. The case was assigned to Judge Katelyn Dickey and a pre-trial is set for 11:15 a.m. June 20.
The task force’s investigation was conducted with the help of the Salem Police Department.
McGaffick is the second attorney arrested by the task force in recent months.
In late February, a Macedonia attorney was also charged with engaging in prostitution and posing criminal tools after he agreed to pay $180 for sex after responding to an advertisement posted by undercover agents to a website associated with human trafficking.
The Mahoning Valley Human Trafficking Task Force, part of the attorney general’s Ohio Organized Crime Investigations Commission, is led by the Mahoning County Sheriff’s Office.
The task force consists of representatives from the Bureau of Criminal Investigation, East Palestine Police Department, Austintown Police Department, Youngstown Police Department, Warren Police Department, Adult Parole Authority and Ohio Investigative Unit.