Two stories emerge at trial

Staff report

WARREN

Two very different stories emerged Monday in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court regarding what happened at 2 a.m. July 25, 2010, between former Warren Township Police officer Anthony Tvaroch and a former girlfriend.

One version had Tvaroch, 37, of Carson Salt Springs Road, Newton Township, attacking Jacqueline Orr, 28, shortly after she answered the door of her Anderson Drive, Howland Township, home.

The other version is that Orr “willfully and willingly” allowed Tvaroch into her house, that he went upstairs and changed into some shorts and then the two began to argue.

Orr struck Tvaroch first, and Tvaroch only pushed the woman away, said Heidi Hanni, Tvaroch’s defense attorney. Her remarks were given during opening statements to the jury.

Charles Morrow, assistant Trumbull County prosecutor, said Orr and Tvaroch had been engaged at one point. They stayed at each other’s homes at various times, but their relationship had up and down times, and the engagement had been broken off, Morrow said.

On the night of the alleged burglary and abduction, Orr had taken beer to Tvaroch’s home for a barbecue, but by late in the evening Tvaroch was making vulgar remarks to Orr, so she went home. When she heard tire noises in her driveway, she became concerned and went to the door to tell Tvaroch to leave, Morrow said. When she opened the door, Tvaroch “thrusts his hands through the door and around her throat,” Morrow said.

He then kicked her, beat her and put his hands on her neck again. She eventually broke free and ran to the neighbor’s house, where the neighbor called 911, Morrow said.

If Tvaroch is convicted of the two charges, he could be sent to prison for 15 years.

The trial resumes today.