The Portage County Sheriff’s Office broadly rejected the allegations included in a civil rights lawsuit against the agency brought by two men jailed on false drug charges in 2023, according to new court filings.
The office denies its deputies knowingly submitted false reports or that they were not properly trained in how to use narcotic identification kits. They also denied the complaint’s assertion that the sheriff’s office was motivated by a desire to glorify its special crimes unit.
The lawsuit stems from an Aug. 29, 2023, traffic stop that led to first-degree felony drug trafficking charges for possessing and trafficking cocaine being filed against Zephaniah Robinson and Jack Metcalf.
The two men, both of them Black, were arrested and incarcerated in the Portage County Jail. Robinson was released on a $75,000 personal recognizance bond with conditions two weeks later, but Metcalf remained incarcerated until Oct. 11, when he also posted a $75,000 PR bond.
According to Robinson’s and Metcalf’s complaint, the county prosecutor’s office only abandoned the case when the alleged cocaine in the back of the 2018 Buick Encore turned out to be baking soda. Robinson’s sister, who owned the car, had sprinkled it in the back of the vehicle to combat a previous water problem.
Exactly a year after their arrests, Robinson and Metcalf sued Portage County Sheriff Bruce D. Zuchowski and deputies Sean Bradley, Robert Paolucci and Anthony Zappone in federal court for violating their civil rights.
Metcalf and Robinson allege that their 4th, 8th and 14th amendment rights — those relating to unreasonable search and seizure, excessive bail or fines, cruel or unusual punishment, and loss of life, liberty or property without due process of law — were all violated.
The defendants’ response, filed Oct. 18, rejects all those allegations.
The response also specifically denies Metcalf’s and Robinson’s allegation that a Deputy Kolb’s actions were, as the complaint states, “committed intentionally, maliciously and/or in a gross, wanton, unreasonable and/or reckless manner.” Indeed, the defendants denied knowing who Defendant Kolb was. Eddie Sipplen, Metcalf’s and Robinson’s attorney, said the name Kolb was “a typo,” but declined to say what name should have been inserted.
Sipplen declined further comment on the case. The defendants’ attorneys, David Smith and Matthew R. Janack, did not respond to The Portager’s request for comment.
According to court documents, the incident started as a routine traffic stop that Zappone conducted on I-76 westbound near Tallmadge Road. The car Robinson was driving allegedly had no sideview mirrors and an improperly displayed license plate, the lawsuit states.
The deputies admit that the traffic stop occurred, that Robinson and Metcalf were in the car, and that the car lacked a license plate and side mirrors. They deny, though, that the vehicle was, as stated in the complaint, a 2018 Buick Encore with darkly tinted windows, owned and registered to Robinson’s sister, Angelique Robinson.
Robinson’s and Metcalf’s lawsuit states that “without knowing any details about the vehicle and its occupants, Deputy Bradley radio[d] Zappone and told him that he believed Anthony Guy, known to him to have an outstanding warrant for a second-degree felony for burglary,” was associated with the vehicle, the lawsuit states.
While admitting that they then treated a routine traffic stop as a felony stop, the defendants deny it was based on the erroneous information Bradley transmitted to Zappone. They specifically deny that Zapppone relied on that information to treat the traffic stop as a felony stop, which entailed his ordering Robinson and Metcalf out of the car at gunpoint.
The opposing sides agree that the officers only realized that Guy was not on scene after Bradley and K-9 unit Karo had arrived, and that Bradley advised Zappone that Karo had alerted to narcotics being in the vehicle.
They also agree that the officers searched the car and located “a large amount of white powder behind the driver’s seat.”
According to Metcalf’s and Robinson’s lawsuit, Paolucci used standard-issue narcotics identification kits (NIK) to conduct several tests on the substance, looking for evidence of methamphetamine and cocaine. Receiving negative readings, he allegedly discarded the tests in a trash bag he kept in his cruiser.
The officers’ admit the NIK tests occurred, but deny the negative readings and that Paolucci discarded the tests, as the complaint alleges.
Despite the negative results, Metcalf’s and Robinson’s lawsuit allege that, despite the negative results, Bradley wrote in his report that “the white powdery substance tested positive for cocaine in two separate locations.”
The defendants deny that Bradley’s report was based on information he knew to be false, and further rejected the complaint’s assertion that both Robinson and Metcalf denied possessing cocaine “or any other contraband.”
Asserting that Zappone’s report “speaks for itself, the officers also deny that he crafted his report so as to support his own and Bradley’s claim that they had found drugs.”
They admit they impounded the vehicle and towed it to the sheriff’s office, where they used an industrial vacuum to collect the white powder, and that they sent it to the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation and Identification (BCI) for analysis.
However, the sheriff’s office denies, as the complaint states, that Bradley and Paolucci stated they had seized more than 65 grams of cocaine.
In their response to Robinson’s and Metcalf’s complaint, the defendants deny that the deputies “conspired to turn a routine traffic stop into a major drug arrest.” They also deny the pair’s allegation that they “created false police reports and drug tests” to be used as evidence against the plaintiffs.
Robinson and Metcalf had allegedly both denied possessing cocaine or any other contraband, but both were arrested, charged with first-degree felonies of trafficking in cocaine and possession of cocaine, and jailed. Robinson was also given a warning for display of plates and no rearview mirror, even though it was sideview mirrors that were missing.
Metcalf and Robinson also alleged that “in instituting and continuing criminal charges and falsely accusing [them] of committing crimes without probable cause or lack thereof, solely in an effort to promote the Portage County Sheriff department image of aggressively fighting drug trafficking and crime,” the defendants committed malicious prosecution.
The deputies deny that and also reject Robinson’s and Metcalf’s assertion that they “created false police reports and drug tests” so that Metcalf and Robinson would be indicted. They reject the complaint’s assertion that by seizing, arresting and holding the two men without probable cause, and without conducting a proper preliminary investigation to determine whether a crime had been committed, the deputies falsely imprisoned Robinson and Metcalf.
They further deny Metcalf’s and Robinson’s assertion that the deputies “sought to misuse the judicial system” and used criminal proceedings to “bolster the credibility and reputation of the Portage Aggressive Crime Enforcement Unit of the Portage County Sheriff Department.”
The defendants acknowledge the sheriff’s office created a Sept. 9, 2023, Facebook post announcing the arrest, but rejected the complaint’s characterization of the office having “posted and boasted about the success of the arrest.” The post reiterates the location of the incident, the vehicle involved, Zappone’s claim that Robinson and Metcalf “were making movements into the back seat and under the front seat,” and states that the field test had yielded positive for cocaine.
The deputies deny Metcalf’s and Robinson’s assertion that by instituting a legal proceeding without probable cause, the defendants attempted “to accomplish an ulterior purpose for which it was not designed,” as the complaint alleges. They deny, as the complaint alleges, that “there was malice in the institutions of the proceedings.”
They officers also reject the allegation that the legal proceeding against Metcalf and Robinson was “perverted” to attempt to accomplish that ulterior purpose, and that the plaintiffs suffered damage from “the wrongful use of process.”
The defendants admit that the Oct. 29 BCI report, which states that “no controlled substance” was found, “speaks for itself.” They deny, however, that the report was “contrary to the sheriff department’s and the deputies’ assertions,” and that, as the complaint states, “there were no illegal substances found in the white powder” collected from the vehicle Robinson was driving.
A Sept. 8, 2023, filing in Portage County Common Pleas Court indicates the cases were dismissed without prejudice.
Robinson was released from jail two weeks after his arrest, but Metcalf remained imprisoned until Oct. 11. Even after that, the pair had to cope with electronic monitoring devices they’d had to pay for themselves, court fees, bond, felony charges of trafficking and possessing cocaine, multiple legal proceedings, the actual time they’d spent in jail, and more.
Citing lack of information, the defendants rejected Robinson’s and Metcalf’s assertion that they had lost their jobs and could not find other employment “due to being falsely arrested.”
The deputies repeatedly deny the complaint’s statement that “as a direct, proximate, and foreseeable result” of the deputies’ actions, Robinson and Metcalf suffered “pain, injury, and financial damages, with future loss of financial opportunities expected.”
They assert that Metcalf’s and Robinson’s’ alleged damages are prohibited in whole or in part “because they are the result of the [their] own acts or omissions and/or the omissions of others over whom the defendants have no authority or control, and for which the defendants are not responsible.”
They allege that Robinson and Metcalf failed to take reasonable steps to avoid or reduce their damages and that their claims are wholly or partially disallowed “based upon assumption of risk.” Without specifying who, the defendants also claim that “one or more of the defendants named” does not have full legal capacity to act on their own behalf.
A case management conference is set for Dec. 4 before U.S. District Court Judge John Adams, who is presiding over the case.
Wendy DiAlesandro is a former Record Publishing Co. reporter and contributing writer for The Portager.