Allegations in a lawsuit filed by Trumbull County Commissioner Nikki Frenchko against Trumbull County, the sheriff, and others have been made in a motion filed in court this week.

The lawsuit stems from what her attorney calls the county commissioner's "unlawful" arrest last year.

Now Frenchko's attorneys are asking for sanctions and for summary judgment in federal court.

Attorney David Betras says Frenchko's 1st and 4th Amendment rights were violated when she was arrested on July 7th, 2022 after refusing to apologize for bringing up complaints by some residents about inmates not receiving adequate medical care, and charged with disrupting a public meeting.

The criminal charge was dismissed by a visiting judge.

"Our client Nikki Frenchko was arrested because she would not apologize to the sheriff," Betras said.

Prior to her arrest Frenchko videotaped a clerk reading a letter by Sheriff Paul Monroe accusing Frenchko of dishonesty and demanding a public apology.

Sheriff Monroe in his deposition states Frenchko was arrested under a state statute that allows arrests due to comments that outrage sensibilities.

"The fact that Michele Frenchko put another employee in emotional distress to the point where she couldn't face the public and was visibly crying. What she did do to that employee publicly and disrupt the meeting ...If that was your mother who was being emotionally crushed and put in emotional distress, what do you do? Just watch your mom get beat up?" asked Monroe.

The court filing states Monroe could have comforted the clerk if he was that concerned about her feelings. It goes on to claim he instead abused his police power to punish his critic the day she refused to seek his forgiveness.

But Betras says the sheriff and the two deputies used an unconstitutional statute to arrest and maliciously prosecute Frenchko, claiming she was being disruptive. Yet, the lawsuit states the commissioners' meetings are like the "Wild West," full of disruptions by all the commissioners.

They state Commissioner Frank Fuda disrupted the meeting by having the sheriff's letter, which was not on the agenda, read during the meeting, which they state is a violation of Robert's Rules of Order.

It also alleges Fuda caused Frenchko to get out of her seat to record the clerk by blocking her from recording with a piece of paper and states Fuda disrupted several meetings with outlandish disruptive behavior but was never arrested.

"Any public official that holds up a picture of bloody tampons to another public official that crosses the bounds of decency. It's grotesque and the people should be grossed out by that," Betras added.

Commissioner Frank Fuda tells 21 News Frenchko had complained the commissioner's bathroom was a mess so a janitor took the picture to show it was not his, nor Commissioner Mauro Cantalamessa's mess.

Cantalamessa declined to comment on this story due to the pending litigation.

Fuda says the piece of paper he used to block Frenchko's videotaping happened to have that picture on it and it was on his desk.

"There is no excuse, in the history of excuses, to hold up a picture of bloody tampons to a female commissioner other than to harass her and beat her into submission," Betras added.

They cite another example of unequal treatment stating an employee's husband was not arrested after he approached Frenchko at a meeting yelled at her, allegedly made racially charged statements about her Hispanic background, salsa danced, and then flipped Frenchko the middle finger.

The document states that the husband then continued in his seat in the audience flipping both middle fingers at Frenchko.

"Nobody, no person has ever been arrested in a Trumbull County meeting for disrupting a meeting other than Nikki Frenchko, and she was part of the meeting," Betras emphasized.

Frenchko's attorneys allege Monroe orchestrated the arrest, that he and the two arresting deputies deleted text messages they were supposed to preserve after several notices or letters demanding they preserve evidence.

"They got one from the county prosecutor, one from the special prosecutor, and one from the Judge, and one from me. I don't know how many more you need to get," Betras added.

The document states Monroe called both the arresting deputies before and after they arrested Frenchko.

It further states Monroe called the Trumbull prosecutor and Warren's prosecutor, Cantalamessa's brother after the arrest.

Monroe also reviewed all the information and approved prosecuting Frenchko before the charges were filed against her in Warren Municipal Court.

21 News reached out to Monroe through phone calls and texts but could not get a comment at the time of reporting.

The lawsuit also states Cantalamessa's phone setting deleted messages that should have been preserved.

Some of those messages have been restored.

Frenchko's attorneys say because the evidence was spoiled or ruined, they are asking for summary judgment over issues where there is no factual dispute and for sanctions.

If a federal judge grants summary judgment on those issues, then the trial would only be over damages.

They are also asking for payment of attorneys fees and for the Judge to find the statute under which Frenchko was arrested unconstitutional.

In September, sworn depositions were given by Frenchko and Monroe.

In Monroe's deposition, he was questioned by counsel on whether text messages from the date of the commissioner's arrest still existed on his cell phone or whether he had deleted the cell data in question. Monroe told counsel that he didn't recall calling either of the arresting officers on that date and stated that he learned of Frenchko's arrest within 5 to 10 minutes, which happened according to the testimony at 11:20 a.m.

Counsel told Monroe that according to the timestamps from sent texts showed that he had texted a reporter at 11:16:30 am, minutes prior to Frenchko's arrest. Monroe said he did not know if or when he deleted the text messages from that date, or if they were deleted automatically 

Monroe was also questioned if others had been arrested for outbursts at Trumbull public meetings, including an incident where a member of the public danced during his statement to commissioners and then allegedly made an obscene gesture towards Commissioner Frenchko, and the sheriff's deputy didn't respond to the man's actions.

During Frenchko's deposition, she was asked whether she believed either Cantalamessa or Fuda sought to have her arrested that date.

Frenchko told the court that the other commissioners and a clerk had been allegedly reviewing "the code that related to arresting people at public meetings." The testimony also said that Commissioner Fuda said one of the arresting officer's name just before she was arrested.