MAHONING COUNTY Deputy files suit after job transfer
The woman says she was disciplined for a romantic relationship with a former deputy who is now retired.
By BOB JACKSON
VINDICATOR COURTHOUSE REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- An Austintown woman is seeking $7.5 million from an official with the Mahoning County Sheriff's Department, where she works as a deputy.
Mary Beth Gentile of Notre Dame Avenue filed a lawsuit this week in U.S. District Court, Youngstown, against Maj. Michael Budd and against the county.
Gentile, a deputy since 1993, says she was wrongly removed from her job working security at the county Child Support Enforcement Agency offices on Commerce Street and transferred to the county jail to be a corrections officer.
Gentile says in the lawsuit that she was called into Budd's office at the jail last month and subjected to a 20-minute tirade by Budd.
Romantic relationship: The suit says Budd yelled at her for reading a book while on duty and for maintaining a romantic relationship with Frank Carbon, a retired deputy who served as chief deputy for former sheriff Ed Nemeth.
Gentile said in the suit that her relationship with Carbon was a primary reason for the transfer back to the jail, and that Budd "harbored personal and political animus toward Carbon."
Budd denies that contention. He said Gentile was transferred for unsatisfactory job performance.
"I don't have the authority to transfer anyone," Budd said. "The sheriff is the ultimate authority here."
The suit says Gentile was attacked by an inmate while working at the jail in November 2000. She was off work until August 2001 recovering from injuries.
Bid on job: In November 2001, she bid on the job at CSEA to get out of working at the jail, the suit says. Her duties there were to operate a metal detector at the front door, conduct security patrols of the building, escort visitors through the building and lock up at night.
Gentile's suit acknowledges that she sometimes read books during breaks at the metal detector, but said other employees did the same thing without punishment.
Transferring deputies' job assignments for disciplinary reasons is a violation of the department's union contract, the suit says.
bjackson@vindy.com