Campbell native claims false arrest, civil conspiracy involving city mayor and authorities

YOUNGSTOWN — A Campbell native claims city officials unlawfully arrested and jailed him two years ago, accusing him of having personnel records belonging to the former city mayor believed to have been stolen, then posting them online — a charge that was ultimately dropped.

A new civil lawsuit first filed in Mahoning County last month on behalf of Jorge Rodrigues, an Akron man who previously lived in Campbell, alleges Campbell authorities maliciously prosecuted the then-52-year-old man for allegedly obtaining a nearly 20-year-old psychological evaluation of former Campbell Mayor Nick Phillips in 2019.

Phillips at the time was up for re-election for his second term as mayor, which he ultimately won.

“Mr. Rodrigues’ arrest was motivated by Mayor Phillips’ desire to retaliate against Mr. Rodrigues for re-posting information about the mayor which the mayor felt was damaging,” the complaint reads, adding that Phillips’ psychological evaluation found him to be unfit to serve as a police officer.

Phillips had at one time used the record to support his claim for government disability benefits, according to the civil complaint.

That record was allegedly retained by the Campbell Police Department. The suit claims it was first posted online by former Poland Village Police Chief Russ Beatty Jr. in spring 2019, during Phillips’ re-election run.

A city councilperson in 2019 reportedly notified Phillips of Beatty’s post. Phillips then reported to the city police department that the record had been stolen, according to the complaint.

“A police report regarding this alleged theft was created and indicates that mayor Phillips believes that Mr. Beatty must have stolen his personnel file,” the complaint reads. “Mr. Beatty took his post down shortly after publishing it on the internet.”

Mahoning Matters sought a copy of that police report from the Campbell Police Department, but records clerks said they were unable to find it. Messages left for police Chief Pat Kelly — who is named a defendant in the case — were not returned.

By the time Beatty’s post was taken down, Rodrigues had taken screen shots of the three-page report with his cellphone, according to the complaint. Rodrigues later reposted the report online the following fall. The post remained online for “a couple weeks” until Rodrigues removed it.

Medical records are not considered public records under Ohio’s public records law.

Rodrigues’ complaint also alleges the city did not have policies for record retention or destruction as required by Ohio’s public records law, so there was “no evidence of the personnel file ever having been stolen,” the complaint states.

The complaint alleges a water damage incident at the city building that housed personnel records “provided the necessary ‘cover’” for Phillips, Kelly and the other officers to claim Phillips’ personnel file had been stolen.

“Mr. Rodrigues was unaware that he had done anything which would have justified a criminal investigation, let alone engaged in conduct which would have justified his arrest,” reads the complaint.

But about 10 armed law enforcement officers presenting themselves as U.S. marshals arrested Rodrigues at his home the morning of Oct. 31, 2019, the complaint alleges.

“Mr. Rodrigues’ arrest was covered by local media which portrayed him as a criminal,” the complaint reads. “Mr. Rodrigues’ name and image were published [and] he was defamed, slandered and otherwise made the object of ridicule, embarrassment and shame.”

The lawsuit alleges Rodrigues was damaged by the “false statements of fact” city authorities gave to the media.

Rodrigues was booked into the Mahoning County jail on Oct. 31, 2019, jail records show. He was arraigned in Campbell Municipal Court the following day on a felony count of receiving stolen property, WFMJ reported. He was released from the jail that day, jail records show.

“Assuming [for the sake of argument] any evidence existed that Mr. Rodrigues had committed a crime, it was eliminated when the prosecutor realized that the allegedly stolen 19-year-old psychological report had been published on the internet and was capable of being downloaded and republished by virtually anyone,” the complaint reads. “Yet the defendants refused to simply dismiss the charges.”

The charges were not dropped until June of this year, the complaint alleges. Rodrigues’ case does not appear in Campbell Municipal Court records, nor county Common Pleas Court records.

The absence of court records suggests Rodrigues was never indicted for the felony charge, nor that his case was even bound over to the Common Pleas Court.

Defendants in the suit include the city, Phillips, Kelly, city Law Director John Zomoida — who presumably filed the charge — and several unidentified law enforcement officers. None of the defendants responded to repeated requests for comment on the case from Mahoning Matters.

Rodrigues’ complaint brings 12 claims including constitutional violations like false arrest and detention and First Amendment retaliation, as well as malicious prosecution, civil conspiracy, abuse of process and what’s called a Monell claim, through which governmental entities can be held liable for constitutional violations so long as plaintiffs can prove governmental policies or conduct were to blame, according to Law.com.

The lawsuit seeks an unspecified amount in compensatory damages, along with some form of punishment for the defendants.

Attorneys for the defendants on Tuesday filed to move the case to federal court, since the suit alleges constitutional violations. In that motion, attorneys claim Rodrigues’ case was dismissed before trial but assert the city and its authorities had probable cause to charge Rodrigues and that his charges and arrest were “constitutionally valid.”

Defendants in a response filed Tuesday refuted all of Rodrigues’ claims, claiming immunity for the city’s officials named as defendants, and sought to have the case thrown out. The defendants also seek to offset any damages by the amount awarded Rodrigues through insurance policies.

The case will be heard by Ohio’s Northern District federal court Judge Sara Lioi, records show. No further court dates have been set.

Phillips retired from the police department in 2005 and was first elected mayor of Campbell in 2015. He was defeated in his bid for a third term this past November by former city councilperson Bryan Tedesco, who was sworn in this week, WKBN reported.

Beatty, 62, died near his home in late August 2021, The Vindicator reported.

This story was originally published December 2, 2021 at 4:00 AM with the headline "Campbell native claims false arrest, civil conspiracy involving city mayor and authorities."