Aliza Sherman’s former divorce attorney was sentenced to six months in Cuyahoga County jail, three years probation and 350 hours of community service for charges related to lying to police regarding his whereabouts the day the former Beachwood nurse was stabbed to death and for bomb threats he phoned in to area courthouses.
Gregory J. Moore remained still as the sentence was handed down May 23 by Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court Judge John D. Sutula. The maximum the 43-year-old Sagamore Hills man faced for those three charges was three years behind bars.
Moore pleaded guilty on May 1 to fourth- and fifth-degree felony charges of inducing panic – related to bomb threats on May 30, 2012 at the Lake County Courthouse and July 10, 2012 at the Old Cuyahoga County Courthouse – and one misdemeanor charge of falsification related to his whereabouts March 24, 2013, the day Sherman was murdered in downtown Cleveland and was scheduled to meet Moore at his office to discuss her divorce case.
On Feb. 19, 2016, Moore pleaded not guilty to all charges in a 16-count indictment from the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor’s Office. Charges in that indictment included tampering with evidence, telecommunications fraud, possessing criminal tools, forgery and obstructing official business in relation to the Sherman case, as well as charges of making terroristic threats and additional inducing panic charges related to the bomb threats.
When Moore changed his plea to guilty for the inducing panic and falsification charges on May 1, just days before his trial was to start, all other charges against him were dropped.
No one has been charged with murder in Sherman’s stabbing death. Cleveland police, who are working with the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor’s Office and FBI, continue to investigate.
On May 12, the reward for information leading to the killer was doubled to $100,000 – the largest reward in Crime Stoppers of Cuyahoga County history – thanks to an anonymous donor who pledged $50,000. At a news conference to announce the increase, Cleveland Police Deputy Chief Edward J. Tomba indicated authorities would like to meet with Moore.
“He is someone we want to talk to and he’s someone who wasn’t truthful with us, so as far as him being connected, he does have a connection to her,” he said May 12. “He was her attorney, and he was the reason she was down there that day, but as far as connecting him as a suspect to this crime, we don’t have the evidence to do that.”
Anyone with information regarding Aliza Sherman’s murder is asked to contact Crime Stoppers at 25crime.com or 216-252-7463. All tips are made anonymously.
