YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (WKBN) – The federal lawsuit filed by a Trumbull County commissioner in connection to her July 2022 arrest by the Trumbull County Sheriff is moving through federal court.
Niki Frenchko filed a civil rights lawsuit in April 2023 against the Trumbull County Sheriff’s Department and the Board of Commissioners. Sheriff Paul Monroe, Trumbull County Commissioner Mauro Cantalamessa, former Commissioner Frank Fuda and the two deputies who were involved in Frenchko’s arrest are named in the lawsuit.
Frenchko has been charged with disrupting a public meeting, but the case against her was dismissed.
According to court documents filed last week, Frenchko’s attorneys David Betras and Matt Miller-Novak are asking for a local TV station to turn over statements that Sheriff Paul Monroe made to a reporter but were “unpublished,” the filing stated.
Betras and Miller-Novak asked the court to put off ruling on the discovery evidence until after the deposition of Monroe, which was scheduled for late last week.
A status conference in the case is scheduled for Sept. 21.
The lawsuit claims Frenchko’s First, Fourth and 14th Amendment rights were violated by “a ruthless false arrest intended to punish a political adversary for criticizing the County Sheriff,” according to court documents.
Frenchko was arrested during a county commissioners’ meeting on July 7 while responding to a letter written by Trumbull County Sheriff Paul Monroe, read by a clerk during the meeting.
