Tapes show Sheriff Gerald McFaul talked to potential witness in sexual-harassment suit

CLEVELAND -- In the midst of a sexual-harassment trial in 1986, Sheriff Gerald McFaul told an employee he was dating at the time how to dodge a subpoena so she wouldn't have to testify against him, according to tapes of secretly recorded telephone calls.

The Plain Dealer obtained the 23-year-old tapes from the woman McFaul had been dating, on the condition that she not be identified. The woman was issued a subpoena as a witness for Ruth Anne Arendt, who had sued McFaul on a sexual-harassment claim.

The woman never testified. A subpoena for her was delivered to the sheriff's office, where she worked as a supervisor. The woman never received the subpoena because she used vacation time to stay home, following the advice given to her by McFaul.

A Cuyahoga County jury cleared McFaul a week after the woman was scheduled to testify.