"All we can go on his word, which isn't worth anything."

No Payday For Price Hill Clean Up Workers
From an article, by Greg Korte, appearing in The Cincinnati Enquirer on Saturday April 17th 2010
Convicted Sex Offender Ray E. CobiaPayday never came for the orange-vested workers who were promised $7.75 an hour to clean up Price Hill.

Ray E. Cobia, the pastor and convicted sex offender who ran the "Ready To Work" employment agency out of his Glenway Avenue storefront church, turned workers away Friday morning, according to Cincinnati police.

Cobia told the workers that his unnamed private donors had backed out of the project after bad publicity but this was not the case.

In fact, police officers also watched as Cobia turned away a delivery which appeared to be of a payroll of checks - as workers demanded payment.

"He refused to take the package," said Cincinnai Police Captain Kimberly Frey, the District 3 commander. "Nobody got paid. Everybody was mad." Frey said officers were there to keep order, and took names of workers in case they're needed for a possible Fraud investigation. Cobia also has prior convictions for passing bad checks. "All we can go on his word, which isn't worth anything." Frey said.

"You have to wonder why he wouldn't accept the package. Was this all a scam? We're waiting to see what happens here."

To make matters worse, public records indicate that Cobia is also a Tier 3 Sex Offender, the most serious category of sex offender.

Capt. Frey said there's nothing police can do about Cobia's "church" being so near a school. Cobia was convicted of sexual battery on a 17-year-old girl in 2004 and his storefront "church" is 160 feet of Carson Elementary School in Price Hill.

"He has reported his employment. He has done everything he is required to do by law. He is not in violation..." Frey said.

The state of Ohio's Adam Walsh Act prohibits Tier 3 offenders - like Cobia - from living within 1,000 feet of a school.

But in what Frey called a "loophole", the law doesn't cover workplaces.

Cobia who indentifies himself as the "founder, bishop, and chief apostle" of the New Life Temple of Deliverance told The Enquirer on Thursday that he was revamping the program after neighbors questioned why unsupervised workers were wandering around their streets, often little more than talking on cell phones and sitting on steps.

UPDATE:
Bishop of Child Rape for the Greater Cincinnati Area Ray E. Cobia.As of January of 2011, convicted sex offender and ex-con Ray E. Cobia had an active Facebook page under the name of Bishop E Ray Cobia. The "Bishop's" page clearly showed he is Facebook-friends w/a number of underage girls - just like the girl he was originally convicted of Sexual Battery against. Shouldn't this be in clear violation of his parole and post-release control?



UPDATE:
On February 1st 2011, Facebook removed Tier 3 Sex Offender "Bishop" Ray E. Cobia's page. No violations of his parole came about as a result of contacting under-age girls on the Internet. As of March 2013, Mr. Cobia is facing new criminal charges that may return him to prison where he most certainly belongs.

References:
Cincinnati. com, No Payday For Price Hill Clean Up Workers
Hamilton County Sheriff's Office, Ray E Cobia
Publish 2, Gregory Korte
WLWT Channel 5, Dozens Unpaid For Price Hill Cleanup Work

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