A motion to suppress evidence in the case of Austintown Trustee and former Poland Local Schools resource officer, Steve Kent has been denied.

In January, Kent's attorney, John Juhasz filed a motion to suppress Kent's cell phone as evidence in his case alleging that police violated his rights when they seized his cell phone during an interview with police on June 8.

Juhasz claimed that Kent was not advised of his rights to consent to the seizure of the phone prior to the phone being seized by officers.

However, the motion was denied with Judge John Durkin stating that Kent gave up his phone to officers voluntarily and that the phone was seized and not searched.

This means that all alleged evidence from social media accounts used by Kent including Snapchat and TikTok, as well as accounts for apps such as iCloud and Life360 and all emails, voicemails, chatlogs, etc. are still fair game in court.

In 2022, Kent faced sexual battery charges after allegedly engaging in sexual conduct with a student at Poland Schools while in his position of school resource officer on three separate occasions.

Kent will be back in court or a pretrial hearing on July 6 in Judge Durkin's court.

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