Paul Facinelli mystery continues

Former BJ staffer Pete Geiger, who lives in the St. Augustine, Florida area with wife Sandy after decades spent teaching in Mongolia, chimes in, as he did a year ago, with information about former BJ staffer Paul Facinelli, who lost his Elyria newspaper job over his obsessive investigative journalism of a Head Start sex abuse case (after 14 years in prison, two people had their convictions overturned, validating Paul's stance):

"John,

"To repeat what, if I recall correctly, I e-mailed to you a year ago, Facinelli was fired as an indirect result of mad dog Assistant Prosecutor Jonathan E. Rosenbaum's insane intolerance of Paul's investigation of the case of Nancy Smith and Joseph Allen.

"Paul was nominated for a Cleveland Women in Communications award in investigative journalism. Rosenbaum wrote to the organization, re-arguing his prosecution of Smith and Allen and saying that Facinelli had set back the cause of justice for offenses against women and children. The women withheld their award.

"Paul then did what was intolerable to his editor, Andy Young of the Elyria Chronicle-Telegram; he hired a lawyer to sue Rosenbaum. Young dropped the axe on Facinelli, a move I thought was, while understandable, extreme. The suit gave Rosenbaum an alley to counter-sue the newspaper.

"Had it been I in Andy's shoes (I was working one year as a business news reporter for the C-T while on furlough from Mongolia), I would have given Paul a leave of absence. Cityroom scuttlebut, in fact, had Paul busted to copy desk.

"I remember vividly the day I came early to work to find Paul packing things from his desk in a cardboard carton. He always thought well of me and had encouraged Young to hire me.

" 'Pete, did I do the wrong thing?,' he asked. I told him I understood his anger over Rosenbaum but, yes, he had been wrong to sue the guy. He hung his head and walked away.

"I was in Elyria a year or so ago and asked C-T Managing Editor Julie Wallace if she had heard from Paul. No, she said; he seemed to have dropped off the edge of the world. The last anyone had heard he was teaching math as a substitute at the Jane Addams Business Career Center on Cleveland's East Side, but that gig had ended, too.

"Happy Holidays to you,

"Pete"

So, we're still trying to find out what happened to Paul after he left the Jane Addams Center job. If you can help, email John Olesky at Jo4wvu@sbcglobal.net

Paul got first place in 1996, third place in 1995 and honorable mention in 1997 from the National Society of Newspaper Columnists in the Notes/Items category for his Elyria work.

Click on the headline to read the original story on Paul's investigation and firing.