Traficant supporter files suit

Naples is a reserve Lowellville policeman and a former Mahoning County reserve deputy sheriff.
By BOB JACKSON
VINDICATOR COURTHOUSE REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- A part-time Lowellville police officer says he's been suspended and passed over for a promotion because of comments made in support of U.S. Rep. James A. Traficant and against the village police department.
Patrick J. Naples Jr. of Lowellville filed a lawsuit Tuesday afternoon in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court.
Named as defendants are the village, its police department and chief, William Vance, Mayor Joseph J. Rossi and Mahoning County Sheriff Randall Wellington.
The suit, assigned to Judge James C. Evans, seeks unspecified damages.
Neither Vance nor Rossi could be reached to comment.
Affidavit given: Naples provided Traficant with an affidavit in August 2001, in which Naples alleged misconduct by Craig Morford, an assistant U.S. attorney who is leading the government's case against Traficant in U.S. District Court, Cleveland.
The affidavit also alluded to misconduct by Wellington when he was serving as Youngstown police chief, but did not give specifics.
The suit says that after excerpts of the affidavit were published in The Vindicator, Naples was no longer called to work for Lowellville police and was ultimately suspended from the department in August 2001.
Included in suit: The suit says Rossi told Vance to remove Naples from the reserve police schedule to keep Wellington happy, because Wellington had told Rossi he wasn't pleased with Naples' comments in the affidavit.
"That's an absolute false statement," Wellington said when told of the suit. "I never had any conversations with Mayor Rossi concerning Mr. Naples."
According to Vindicator files, Naples is a former Mahoning County reserve deputy, first commissioned in 1982 when Traficant was sheriff.
Wellington pulled his reserve deputy commission in April 2000 after giving Naples the opportunity to resign, which he did. Naples tried to withdraw his resignation, saying he was coerced and under mental distress.
The sheriff rejected that in a return letter, saying Naples' letter only bolstered his decision to terminate Naples.
Naples' suit also says Vance promised that he would be tapped to fill the next full-time vacancy in the police department. But after the affidavit became public, the village hired a younger, less experienced man to fill a full-time position, the suit says.
Naples' suit says the village's actions are in retaliation for his remarks in the affidavit and for comments he made at an October 2001 village council meeting, where he requested an investigation into the department's actions.
bjackson@vindy.com