Trumbull County Commissioner Niki Frenchko has filed a report with the Warren Police Department accusing a fellow commissioner, as well as the County Sheriff of tampering with evidence.

In a written statement provided to the Warren Police Department, Frenchko accused Commissioner Mauro Cantalamessa and Sheriff Paul Monroe of tampering with evidence.

The accusations stem from an incident at a 2022 Commissioners meeting where Frenchko was arrested by deputies with the Trumbull County Sheriff's Office after she refused to apologize to Monroe for reading a letter on the record stating an inmate had not received proper care while incarcerate in the Trumbull County Jail.

A federal judge ruled this arrest to be unlawful. That same ruling alleged that Cantalamessa and Monroe conspired to have Frenchko arrested noting alleged text messages with one reading "You could have her removed for being disruptive in a public meeting."

An appeal to that ruling filed on behalf of Cantalamessa and Monroe, as well as former commissioner Frank Fuda claims there is no evidence to support the conspiracy claims.

Frenchko previously told 21 News this is because Cantalamessa and Monroe allegedly deleted these messages, in turn destroying evidence.

"Not only did they violate the constitution, they committed a crime. They should be in jail. Both of them," Frenchko said.

In Frenchko's written statement to police, she asked for this case to be referred to the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigations (BCI). 21 News reached out to Warren Police Chief Eric Merkel to see if the department plans on following through with that request and we're waiting to hear back.

We've also reached out to Commissioner Cantalamessa and Sheriff Monroe for responses to these accusations and are waiting to hear back.

In the meantime, you can read much more about Frenchko's arrest, the ruling of wrongful arrest and the appeal to that ruling in our related coverage below.

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