WARREN Attorney's assistant: Cops threatened me

Nathan Critchfield pleaded no contest to the first of three charges.
By STEPHEN SIFFand PEGGY SINKOVICH
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- Investigators threatened to brand Atty. Maridee Costanzo's administrative assistant a "narc" if he did not cooperate in an investigation of his boss, said the assistant, Nathan Critchfield.
Critchfield said agents demanded that he produce Costanzo's "secret files." He said that when he contended ignorance, they threatened to tell people he was an informant.
The Warren police officer who arrested Critchfield, Det. Jeff Hoolihan, denied the allegations. Hoolihan is a city police detective who has been working with a federal task force for the past year.
"Those allegations that Mr. Critchfield are saying are not true," Hoolihan said. "The truth will come out in the long run."
Hoolihan added that if Critchfield believes that Hoolihan did something wrong, he could file a complaint with the city police department.
"I welcome the review," Hoolihan said.
What happened
Critchfield, 32, spoke to reporters after pleading no contest to driving under suspension in Warren Municipal Court. He was found guilty and fined $75 by Judge Thomas Gysegem.
Hoolihan pulled Critchfield over on a charge of driving under suspension June 16. Critchfield said two FBI agents were also there when he was stopped. Shortly after the stop, Critchfield said investigators handed him a subpoena for Costanzo's billing records.
Critchfield has been stopped and cited with driving under suspension twice since then. He has to appear in Niles Municipal Court and Girard Municipal Court later this month to answer those charges.
He said he has straightened out his problems with the Bureau of Motor Vehicles but pleaded no contest Friday "to get this over with."
"Hoolihan is dragging my name and Maridee's name through the mud," Critchfield said. "They don't really have a case."
Critchfield had been scheduled to appear before a federal grand jury and to bring copies of records from Costanzo's office, but his appearance was canceled at the last minute. He is not sure when he will be rescheduled to testify. He says he has no records.
Hoolihan declined to comment on the grand jury investigation.
"The truth will come out," Hoolihan said.
"The bottom line is, we got the conviction," Hoolihan said, referring to the charge of driving under suspension. "We were right, he was wrong and we have to move forward."
siff@vindy.comsinkovich@vindy.com