CANTON " A lawsuit claiming defamation and invasion of privacy was filed Thursday in Stark County Common Pleas Court against a Cleveland television station and its owners.
The plaintiffs are six Stark County sheriff's deputies " Kristin Fenstemaker, Laura Rodgers, Tony Gayles, Richard T. Gurlea Jr., Andrea Mays and Brian Michaels " whom the lawsuit states suffered humiliation, severe emotional distress, disrepute in the community, and loss of wages and employment.
The suit stems from investigations and news stories by WKYC TV Inc. and its reporter which "portrayed the deputies as abusing their power, abusing an inmate and wrongfully causing harm to an inmate" " Hope Steffey of Salem.
Specifically named are news reporter Tom Meyer of WKYC TV; Gannett Company Inc., doing business as WKYC TV Inc. at 1333 Lakeside Ave. in Cleveland; and Gannett Satellite Information Network International, c/o CT Corporation at 1300 E. Ninth St., Cleveland. Also named as defendants are three people working for a Channel 3 news program, "The Investigator," whose "true names and addresses are currently unknown."
According to the lawsuit, on Oct. 20, 2006, officers of the Stark County Sheriff's Department arrested Hope Steffey for disorderly conduct. At the time of the arrest, Steffey was under the influence of alcohol and psychtropic medications (medication capable of affecting the mind, emotions and behavior).
Steffey was physically and verbally abusive toward arresting officer Gurlea and continued that abuse toward officers while in Stark County Jail.
While at the jail, Steffey indicated suicidal intentions to a screening nurse and a doctor recommended she be placed, for her own safety, in a holding cell without any clothing, the lawsuit states. Deputies Fenstemaker, Rodgers, Gayles, Mays, and Michaels followed those instructions.
According to the lawsuit, during the evening of Jan. 31, 2007, WKYC TV, with Meyer as reporter, aired a news story billed as an investigative report, relating Steffey's experience while under arrest at Stark County Jail, which showed her as an "innocent victim of assault who called police for help."
The program showed edited portions of footage from the jail facility and portrayed the sheriff's department as conducting a "violent strip search" of Steffey "akin to rape."
The voices and faces of Fenstemaker, Rodgers, Gayles, Mays and Michaels were included in that program.
The suit claims the program "cast the events in such a way as to suggest that Steffey had been left alone for an extended time in a holding cell with two male deputies " Gayles and Michaels " raising questions of sexual abuse."
It also suggests that Steffey was forced to appear at booking with nothing on except a short vest that came down to her waist, which was "false and misleading."
"At no time prior to airing the program did defendants attempt to contact the Stark County Sheriff's Office to determine why Steffey was placed in a jail cell, why her clothes were removed, other than a call the day that program aired asking for comments on Steffey's lawsuit against the sheriff's office that was pending in federal court and another call asking for information for an unspecified story on strip searches," the suit states.
Meyers and Gannett, the suit claims, continued misleading portrayals of events at the Stark County Jail, including playing selected footage from the jail and continually referring to the incident as a "strip search" or "illegal strip search," which, if true, would amount to felony behavior on the part of the plaintiffs.
In other programs, individuals, including a psychologist, a prison worker, and the Cuyahoga County sheriff, were shown edited footage and asked questions about a "strip search," but were not given background information of the Steffey incident "to reach an informed opinion."
The programming resulted in death threats and hate mail to the Stark County Jail, the plaintiffs and the Stark County Sheriff's Office and one program showed Fenstemaker's nametag displayed on her clothing, resulting in Fenstemaker being forced to resign from her job."
On June 8, 2007, Steffey was tried and convicted by an Alliance Municipal Court jury of disorderly conduct and resisting arrest for events leading up to her arrest in October 2006.
During that criminal trial, evidence was produced that at the time of her arrest Steffey was under the influence of alcohol and medication and was not the victim of an assault.
Evidence showed that on that day, Steffey had assaulted her niece, who was six months pregnant, and that she had also attacked and choked her teenage nephew.
Compensatory damages (in excess of $25,000), punitive damages, costs, attorney fees and interest are sought. The lawsuit was filed by Allen Schulman Jr. of Allen Schulman & Associates and attorney Brian L. Zimmerman, both of Canton, who have requested court mediation.
