Daniel Stovall is suing several Middlefield Village officials, including Mayor Ben Garlich, for what he calls “unconstitutional and tortious conduct” in his arrest and prosecution on alleged drug possession.
Stovall, whose last known address is 4364 Oakbrook Drive, Perry, was indicted last December on a possession of drugs charge. He filed the 34-page, eight-count lawsuit Oct. 27 in the Cuyahoga County Court of Common?Pleas against Middlefield Village, Police Chief Joseph Tucholski, former Police Chief Arnold Stanko, police officer Steven Fedorko, Garlich and police informant Tricia Shepard.
He is suing them for malicious prosecution; false imprisonment; abuse of process; supervisory liability; municipal liability; reckless, wanton or willful conduct; conspiracy to deprive civil rights; and civil conspiracy. He is seeking a minimum of $3 million in damages.
In the suit, Stovall accuses the defendants of acting together to assist or cover up, or permit his wrongful prosecution, including having a personal or sexual relationship with Shepard, who was the police informant. He also claims the police fabricated reports, hiding information and falsely reporting reasons to justify the stop and search of his vehicle, and subsequent arrest.
In addition, he contends the defendants failed to disclose to the grand jury the known unreliability of Shepard as well as facts that were favorable to his case and their plan to arrest him because he was African American.
Stovall — who had been working as a dental hygenist at a dentist’s office in?Middlefield at the time of his arrest — said he was in a romantic relationship with Shepard, his coworker, for about a month prior to his arrest. He said he had shown proof of that relationship — via a video of them having sexual relations — to Stanko.
He said the police knowingly used Shepard as an informant despite her being known as unreliable, dishonest and personally motivated to set him up.
In the suit, Stovall said Stanko, Tucholski, Fedorko, Shepard or Garlich planted or facilitated the planting of evidence on him or his property, failed to report the known misconduct of a fellow officer or his/their own misconduct regarding his arrest and charges, and failed to discipline officers for their misconduct.
“It’s a shame that people in power won’t understand that they, too, have to answer,”?Stoval wrote in a comment on the Maple Leaf website, adding in a later email, “it’s sad, but all so true.”
Stovall’s attorney, Robert DiCello Jr., said Tuesday the “devastating impact of law enforcement misconduct goes to the very core of how people experience their neighborhoods, their citizenship, their families.”
“They lose their sense of personal safety,” he said. “That’s very profound when they’re targeted. And it’s a real tragedy and that’s why we took this case, because it’s a real, real tragedy. It’s not something we want to glorify. We don’t want to celebrate bringing this suit, we just want justice.”
DiCello Jr., added, “People like Daniel Stovall suffer with the question, not only ‘why me?’ but why won’t it be me again?’ And that’s a real scary place to be. When the good guys become bad guys, then everybody’s afraid.”
When contacted?Monday, Garlich said the lawsuit is not in the village solicitor’s “arena.”
“It’s in our insurance company’s attorney’s arena and I haven’t really sat down and talked with him,” he said, adding he learned of the lawsuit last week.
“I don’t have a comment at this point,” the mayor said. “It’s just unfortunate that it happened.”
Tucholski also said the matter has been referred to legal counsel and declined comment Monday afternoon.
Stanko could not be reached.
Other allegations in the complaint include writing false or misleading police reports, intentionally remaining silent and doing nothing to discipline, correct or otherwise oversee or stop Stanko,?Tucholski and Fedorko from engaging in misconduct, and making no reasonable inquiry into Shepard’s allegations.
Stovall’s Story
In the complaint, Stovall said when he told Shepard he did not want to be in a relationship with her any longer, “she became angry and decided to make false allegations to the Middlefield Police … that he sold drugs.”
He said at the time Shepard went to the police, she was involved in a relationship with Stanko or Tucholski.
“In fact … Shepard boasted to Annette Tufts (a good friend of Stovall’s) that she helped defendants Stanko and?Tucholski organize and carry out their mutual plan to arrest (Stovall),”?the lawsuit said. “Shepard also told Ms. Tufts that the plan to arrest (Stovall) would be done with the participation and knowledge of defendants Stanko and Tucholski.”
Stovall said Shepard had never served as a police informant for the defendants prior to his case nor had she ever previously provided reliable information in connection with a criminal investigation of any kind.
Rather, she was an “angry ex-girlfriend who was known by defendants Stanko, Tucholski and/or Fedorko to have a reputation as a dishonest and unreliable citizen,” the lawsuit said, adding she’s a convicted thief and drug user/seller with an “extensive criminal history.”
So, when she made the “bald allegation”?that Stovall, who had no criminal record of any kind, was selling drugs out of the dentist’s office in Middlefield, Stanko, Tucholski and Fedorko made their plan to arrest and charge Stovall, he said in the suit.
The Conspired Plan
Stovall claims the named police officials did nothing to actually identify the dates, times, buyers or amounts of any alleged drug sales involving him.
They “made no effort to conduct any ongoing surveillance of alleged drug buys,”?he said, adding they also did not verify the accuracy of or corroborate Shepard’s accusations.
Shepard allegedly contacted Tufts to falsely plant the seed that Stovall was a drug seller, Stovall said. Tufts reportedly told Shepard she lived with Stovall and never knew of him being a drug dealer or user, that he did not sell or use drugs and she never saw him buy or sell drugs.
Tufts allegedly told Shepard she had no idea where any drugs would be located and was “completely shocked and dismayed by any allegation that (Stovall)?sold drugs.”
But Tucholski, Stanko and Fedorko ignored these claims, according to the lawsuit, which added Shepard continued to “work on”?Tufts to convince her Stovall was a drug dealer and to try to get evidence against him.
The Arrest
On Oct. 25, 2013, Stovall was driving a blue Toyota minivan, which Tufts owned, when Middlefield police pulled him over for going left of center on the road. Stovall said the stop was “completely fabricated.” Police surveillance footage confirmed Stovall did not go left of center.
The police asked him if he had a valid driver’s license to which he replied he had court papers that authorized him to drive.
“He was driving a vehicle that was not titled in his name,” DiCello Jr. explain Tuesday, adding Tufts had told Shepard that Stovall might not have had a valid driver’s lisence, which gave them that information prior to the stop.
“He was legally allowed to drive. He had court permission to drive,”?he said.
Rather than allow Stovall to secure those papers, the police arrested him for operating a motor vehicle without a valid driver’s license, DiCello said.
In Ohio, a person cannot be arrested and held in police custody for driving without a valid driver’s license, Geauga County?Prosecutor Jim Flaiz previously said.
Even though there was nothing illegal plainly visible to officers or any warrants for Stovall’s arrest, police put him in handcuffs, made him sit in the police car and summoned a K9 unit from the Geauga County?Sheriff’s Office to search the minivan, the lawsuit said.
Stovall also told WKYC Channel 3 in July that Shepard had access to the minivan the day of and before his arrest.
According to Stovall’s complaint, the drug dog did not make a positive alert that there were any drugs in the van, no other search of the minivan occurred at that time and no inventory of the contents of the minivan was conducted at that time. Yet, Stanko seized the van and drove it to the police station.
Stanko then reportedly parked the minivan in an unsecured lot at the front of the police station while police tried to get Tufts down to the station to give concent for another search.
Tufts’ minivan remained unattended and unsecured for three hours before being searched again, the lawsuit claims.
Stovall accused Stanko, Tucholski and Fedorko of planting cocaine in the minivan after the initial search was conducted.
‘The Mayor Does Nothing’
Despite being the top law enforcement officer and chief policy maker, Garlich did nothing to investigate the circumstances behind the arrest of Stovall after it became public in 2014, Stovall said in his lawsuit.
He added Garlich also did not discipline any of the defendants and never corrected the village’s “hands-off” custom of letting police operate without regular inspections, investigations, reviews, operations oversight or internal evaluations of fellow police officer misconduct, report writing, relationships with informants, information cultivation or illegal/improper arrests, Stovall said.
Following Stovall’s indictment, Geauga County?Common Pleas Judge David Fuhry granted Stovall’s motion to suppress all evidence illegally obtained in the Oct. 25 stop, search and seizure, and all criminal proceedings against him were dismissed.
But the?Damage Was Done
Stovall said after enduring all the above, he has been damaged.
He said he was brought before a judge on an indictment that was maliciously procured by the defendants and has suffered “mental pain, anguish, embarrassment, humiliation, feelings of powerlessness, harm to self-esteem, mental and emotional distress, extreme fear, anxiety, lost of sense of personal safety and dignity and lost of personal finances to pay for legal fees and costs.”