Two men falsely accused of drug possession and trafficking are suing Portage County Sheriff Bruce D. Zuchowski and three of his deputies in federal court, asking for a jury to determine unspecified damages.
At issue is an Aug. 29, 2023, traffic stop conducted by Portage County sheriff’s deputies. Zephaniah Robinson and his passenger, Jack Metcalf, were charged with trafficking in cocaine and with possession of cocaine, both first-degree felonies.
However, the county prosecutor’s office abandoned the case when the alleged cocaine in the back of the 2018 Buick Encore turned out to be baking soda that Robinson’s sister, who owned the car, had sprinkled in the back of the vehicle to combat a previous water problem, according to a filing in Portage County Common Pleas Court.
In the meantime, 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.
Prosecutors didn’t drop the case until mid-November. In addition to jail time, Robinson and Metcalf had endured almost three months of court appearances, electronic monitoring devices and, according to the federal lawsuit, the loss of their jobs.
Robinson and Metcalf are now suing Zuchowski, Deputy Sean Bradley, Deputy Robert Paolucci and Deputy Anthony Zappone in U.S. District Court.
“There was no justification for the framing of and creating false evidence against the plaintiffs,” their attorney, Eddie Sipplen of Akron, stated in an Aug. 29 lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court, Northern District of Ohio, Eastern Division.
The pair are seeking compensatory and punitive damages, declaratory and injunctive relief, attorney fees, costs and other relief, the amounts to be decided by a jury.
Specifically, they allege that their right to be free from unreasonable search and seizure by the use of force was violated, that they were falsely imprisoned, that they suffered malicious prosecution, that their due process rights were abused, that the government is liable for its actions and that the deputies engaged in “willful, wanton and reckless conduct.”
The Portage County Sheriff’s Office did not return The Portager’s request for comment.
No court date has been set.
How the false accusations happened
The incident started as a routine traffic stop 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.
Bradley radioed to Zappone that he believed the person in the vehicle was a man wanted for second-degree felony burglary, the lawsuit states.
Armed with that information, Zappone decided to treat the routine traffic stop as a felony stop and allegedly ordered Robinson and Metcalf out of the vehicle at gunpoint. The law enforcement officers only realized that neither Robinson nor Metcalf were the suspect after Bradley and his K-9 unit had arrived.
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