The executive director of the Martha Holden Jennings Foundation was among those arrested on sex charges stemming from a Northeast Ohio Human Trafficking Task Force operation in North Olmsted.
A news release issued Friday, May 12, by Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost’s office listed one of the 10 arrested as Dan Keenan Jr., 53, from Westlake. The name and picture match that of the executive director of the Cleveland-based Martha Holden Jennings Foundation, a nonprofit that supports K-12 students and teachers.
The release from Yost’s office identified one of the arrestees as “a non-profit executive” but was not more specific. A spokesman from Yost’s office said it was his “understanding” that the man identified as Keenan in the release and accompanying group of mugshots is the executive director of the foundation.
Nine of the 10 men, including Keenan, were charged with engaging in prostitution, a first-degree misdemeanor. Another man was arrested for promoting prostitution, a fourth-degree felony.
A call to the Martha Holden Jennings Foundation office around 2:30 p.m. Friday was answered by an administrative assistant who said she was working from home and was unaware of the Ohio AG news release about the arrests. She said all foundation employees work at home on Fridays and that there was no one immediately available to answer questions from the news media.
Keenan as of 4:00 p.m. Friday had not responded to an email sent to him at 2:50 p.m.
Keenan also is the former superintedent of Westlake schools.
The arrests made on Thursday, May 11, were part of a one-day operation held in conjunction with the North Olmsted Police Department, Westshore Enforcement Bureau and the Ohio Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force to identify those providing and purchasing commercial sex.
Seven potential human trafficking victims were also identified during the North Olmsted operation.