Trustees, police chief added to suit alleging paddling

Offers to settle lawsuits in July were rejected.
By PEGGY SINKOVICH
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
HOWLAND -- The township trustees and police chief have been added as defendants in a federal lawsuit filed against a retired police captain accused of paddling juvenile offenders.
Attys. Alan Matavich and Sarah Kovoor on Wednesday added the township's trustees and Police Chief Paul Monroe as defendants on the lawsuit filed by Richard Thomas Woolf and his mother, Carol.
The lawsuit is pending in U.S. District Court in Youngstown.
Darlene St. George, township administrator, said officials have not yet received the complaint, so they cannot comment.
The suit states that letters, memoranda, other writings or records concerning James Martin's use of physical punishment against juveniles that occurred before 1993 have disappeared and are missing from Martin's personnel file.
The suit further states that the personnel file is under the care, custody and control of the township and police chief.
"The trustees and the chief are responsible for what Ritchie went through because they didn't reprimand him and they didn't monitor him," said Kovoor.
"The trustees of Howland also neglected to tell the trustees of Fowler, and that is probably one of the reasons he got the job as part-time police chief in Fowler."
Juvenile diversion
Martin, who was Fowler's part-time police chief, operated a juvenile diversion program that used corporal punishment.
Martin operated a diversion program in Howland that began in the 1970s and lasted until 1993, when Martin was instructed to stop.
An investigation in 1993 by then-Howland Police Chief Steve Lamantia states that one juvenile complained at that time about being paddled as part of Martin's diversion program there. Martin told the chief at that time that he had the parents' permission to use corporal punishment. No charges were filed.
Woolf and others who took part in the Fowler program last year and earlier this year have filed federal lawsuits against the chief.
According to federal court motions, the chief in July offered to pay Michael W. Harrington, 18, of Trumbull Drive, Niles, Robert J. McCrystal, 18, of Stillwagon Road, Howland, and Woolf, 16, of Vienna, $15,000 each. The offers were rejected.
Besides the civil cases, Martin is also facing criminal charges.
Martin, free on a $2,500 bond, has pleaded innocent to a 52-count indictment. He is facing 20 counts of dereliction of duty; 11 counts of misdemeanor assault; seven counts of unauthorized photography; 12 counts of using a sham legal process; and two felony counts of theft in office, said Dave Toepfer, an assistant county prosecutor.
Authorities said the charge of sham legal process means Martin showed juveniles a document that appeared official but in reality had no legal standing and was not lawfully issued.
State and federal officials began investigating Martin's juvenile diversion program in March.
Martin has said that his program was designed to help juveniles.
Martin also worked full time as a police captain in Howland for 32 years. He retired from that position in May.
sinkovich@vindy.com