Carol Gross bursts into tears Thursday after a Medina County jury acquits her on charges of attempted murder, arson and aggravated arson. At left is her defense attorney, Russell Buzzelli. (NICK GLUNT / GAZETTE)

Carol Gross, right, shares a moment with her mother, Shirley Weese, after she was acquitted Thursday on charges of attempted murder, arson and aggravated arson. (NICK GLUNT / GAZETTE)

A Wadsworth woman said Thursday she’s glad she’ll have time with her children after a Medina County jury found her not guilty of trying to kill her elderly father-in-law in a 2012 house fire.

“I got arrested 17 months ago, and I’ve not been able to see my kids more than two hours a week in that time,” 44-year-old Carol Gross said. “I just want to thank God that he helped me out of this mess.”

Gross could have faced up to 22 years in prison on charges of attempted murder, arson and aggravated arson if she’d been convicted.

Medina County Prosecutor Dean Holman said he was disappointed, but accepted the jury’s verdict.

“Arson cases are always difficult — they’re circumstantial cases,” he said. “We and the police worked the case hard, but the jury made their decision, and we accept that.”

Prosecutors alleged at trial, which began Jan. 12, that Gross tried to kill her father-in-law, octogenarian Wally Gross, because they didn’t get along.

In closing arguments, county Assistant Prosecutor Michael McNamara told the jury Gross also was trying to get back at her estranged husband, who had an affair.

On Nov. 27, 2012, Carol Gross’ husband, Dorian Gross, was sharing his Wolf Road house with four children, ages 2 to 13, and his father. Only Wally Gross was home when the fire broke out.

During Gross’s trial, witnesses testified she poured water on her father-in-law, put hot peppers in his food, left doors open to make him cold, pushed him over and punched him.

Wally Gross testified that he didn’t believe Carol Gross set the fire.

Fire investigators testified they found no traces of gasoline in the house, but did find “burn trails” that were consistent with gasoline poured purposely throughout the house.

Gross’ attorney, Russell Buzzelli, criticized the prosecution’s case, calling it “junk science.”

“These are serious, serious allegations and charges,” Buzzelli told the jury during closing arguments, “and when you have these, you’ve got to have serious, serious proof — but they don’t.”

Contact reporter Nick Glunt at (330) 721-4048 or nglunt@medina-gazette.com. Follow him on Twitter @ngfalcon.

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Mike Kovack

Nick Glunt and Loren Genson | The Gazette

Misdemeanor charges of misusing public funds were filed Thursday against Medina County Auditor Mike Kovack, who’s expected to enter a diversion program in two weeks to have the charges forgiven.

“It was a thorough and complete investigation from a multi-agency investigative team, and once we had all the facts, we came to the consensus that this was the way to handle it,” said Erie County Prosecutor Kevin Baxter, who was appointed as special prosecutor in April after Medina County Prosecutor Dean Holman recused himself.

According to a joint news release from Baxter and county Sheriff Tom Miller, Kovack was charged with two misdemeanors for “personal and political use of his county laptop computer.”

Accusations against Kovack, 53, included that he had pornography on the laptop, as well as documents he used to manage his Democratic political campaigns and that of his chief deputy, Joan Heller, and Medina Councilman Bill Lamb, at large. Heller unsuccessfully ran for county treasurer in 2012 while Lamb lost a bid to become county commissioner in 2010.

In addition, Kovack was accused of running a private rental business and keeping details of his dating life on his laptop computer.

Baxter, a Democrat, declined to be more specific about to which allegations the charges refer.

“I’m going to wait on that until we fully resolve the case,” Baxter said. “He still has to enter a plea, so I would just stay with the press release until there is a plea entered and he’s referred to the first-offender program.”

Kovack is scheduled for a Feb. 6 arraignment hearing, where Baxter said Kovack is expected to “plead no contest to the offenses charged and enter a first-offender diversion program.”

In a prepared statement, Kovack said he intends to take Baxter’s offer to enter a diversion program because a misdemeanor on his record could damage his military credentials.

“When I retired after 28 years with the United States Navy in late 2013, I held a high-level security clearance,” he said. “Because I felt a misdemeanor charge might jeopardize the security clearance I have held for 28 years, I opted to take this route.”

He said he believes the allegations against him were driven by politics while he ran an election campaign, which he won in November.

“I think this whole incident has been a sordid inside-look at how Medina County government sometimes operates,” he said. “It has taken a tremendous toll upon me and my parents.”

He added that his decision to enter the program was against the advice of his attorney, Steve Bailey, who stressed Kovack’s decision is not an admission of guilt.

“It’s out of expedience — personal, political and financial expedience — not because he is admitting his guilt,” Bailey said. “Mike has an important job to do, and he can’t let this stress get in the way of that.

Bailey said if the case went to trial, he was certain a jury would find Kovack not guilty.

Bailey and Kovack speculated that the charges referred to Kovack using an office printer to make copies of a campaign flier and not any of the other allegations.

“There’s a policy in the office that you can make personal copies as long as you pay the 10-cent fee the public must pay to get copies,” Bailey said. “Ultimately, this comes down to about $2 in copies — and that puny amount was paid for.”

Kovack said the investigation cost $10,000 in taxpayer money and found no pornography on his laptop. He said the other files in the allegations were on a portable flash drive, and he never accessed the files using the county laptop.

Diversion program
The offer Kovack will take is similar to one taken by county Clerk of Courts David Wadsworth, who entered a first-offender program in September 2013 after pleading no contest to misusing public funds. After completing the program a year later, his charges were dismissed and his records were sealed.

Charges against Wadsworth, a Republican, included that he copied $25 worth of campaign materials using an office printer.

In Wadsworth’s case, he was charged, arraigned and admitted to the diversion program all in the same day.

The prosecutor said Kovack’s case is being handled differently.

“(Medina Municipal Judge Dale H. Chase) prefers us to wait,” Baxter said. “It’s easier for me so I don’t need to come down more than once, but this is the way the judge wants it to go.”

Both Wadsworth and Kovack also were sued in federal court by former employees, each who alleged they were fired for telling law enforcement agencies that they were misusing their offices. Kovack’s case is ongoing, while Wadsworth’s case was settled out of court.

Wadsworth’s lawsuit cost county taxpayers $2,500 — the cost to meet the county’s insurance deductible. The rest of the settlement was covered by insurance.

Kovack’s federal suit was filed by Annette Ehrlich, his former information technology manager, who was fired after an alleged “irate” confrontation in the auditor’s office in September. The confrontation was the culmination of almost six months of turmoil between Ehrlich and Kovack, as documented in her personnel file.

The first allegations against Kovack came from Ehrlich, when she filed a report with the Medina County Sheriff’s Office in March.

Ehrlich and her attorneys did not return a call Thursday seeking comment.

The allegations went public in July, when county Commissioner Pat Geissman, a Republican, sent a letter to the Ohio Ethics Commission alleging Kovack was “running his rental business out of his office.” She provided the commission with two computer discs — one sent in July and another in August — to back up her allegations.

Geissman said both discs were provided to her by Anne Murphy, who previously worked in Kovack’s office before resigning to take a job with county Treasurer John Burke, a Republican. Geissman said Murphy got the discs from Ehrlich.

Murphy said her involvement was not political.

“I feel vindicated that the special prosecutor and detective — after all the stories and rumors — actually did file charges against Auditor Kovack,” she said in a prepared statement. “The filed charges show I was heard.”

She said her motivation was dedication to a friend: Ehrlich.

“Gathering courage is not always easy, but I still encourage others to stand up, be heard and do the right thing,” she said.

After learning of the charges against Kovack on Thursday, Geissman said she wasn’t surprised.

“I knew there would be charges because there’s no way an elected official could do all he did and not have charges,” she said. “It was definitely what I was expecting.”

Geissman said the working relationship between commissioners and the auditor will remain professional in the wake of the charges. She said the commissioners and Kovack were polite and professional when Kovack presented his budget proposal earlier this month.

Democratic Party Chair John Welker said county Democrats stand behind Kovack. He said he was disappointed by the charges, and said Kovack should be afforded the same opportunity to enter a diversion program as the clerk of courts.

“We stand by Mike. He’s served the county well over the last four years,” Welker said. “He’s been an excellent public servant. I hate to see something like this be a black eye on his office.”

Contact reporter Nick Glunt at (330) 721-4048 or nglunt@medina-gazette.com. Follow him on Twitter @ngfalcon.

Contact reporter Loren Genson at (330) 721-4063 or lgenson@medina-gazette.com. Follow her on Twitter @lorengenson.

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Sheriff Tom Miller

Since becoming the only law enforcement agency in Ohio authorized by the Federal Aviation Administration to fly drones, the Medina County Sheriff’s Office has used its unmanned aircraft twice.

The Sheriff’s Office received a certificate of authorization to fly drones from the FAA in February 2013 and remains the only law enforcement agency with authorization.

Sgt. Jim Sanford said the Sheriff’s Office used the aircraft once to assist with a 100-acre brush fire and again to help locate a missing Alzheimer’s patient.

“We are very careful to not put it up just because,” he said. “We do not want to risk anyone’s privacy.”

Sanford, who controls the drone in the field, said although the drone has had limited use, it is still a valuable resource for the office.

During the April 21 brush fire last year on Coon Club Road in Chatham Township, Sanford flew the drone over the area to locate hotspots and make sure the fire was put out.

On Sept. 1, Sanford flew the drone over the area around Meadowview Care Center in Seville to help locate a missing Alzheimer’s patient who had escaped out a window.

Later, the patient was located 15 miles away.

“We did not locate the person with it, but we were able to say for sure that he wasn’t in the general area,” he said.

Sanford said he views the use of drones strictly for public safety and never intends to use them in an investigation without a search warrant.

In Ohio, it is illegal for law enforcement to operate drones without a warrant except in emergency situations.

Still, Sanford is wary of the law’s strength in court.

“At some point, litigation is going to come out over these things and we want to make sure the sheriff isn’t the first one taken down,” he said. “Their use is too valuable to lose.”

The Sheriff’s Office began working with Vista UAS, of Seville, almost 10 years ago to develop the unmanned aircraft. The company donated two drones to the Sheriff’s Office in 2011.

Contact reporter Andrew Davis at (330) 721-4050 or adavis@medina-gazette.com.

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A Medina teenager accused of breaking into a North Court Street gun store to steal firearms in September has had his case moved from juvenile to adult court.

Branden J. Barry, who turned 18 after the burglary, is charged with robbery, grand theft of a firearm and breaking and entering.

He also is charged with receiving a stolen motor vehicle, grand theft of a motor vehicle and receiving a stolen credit card in three separate cases.

The charges are second-, third-, fourth- and fifth-degree felonies.

Barry also faces two firearm specifications alleging he had a gun when he committed crimes. The specs carry a year of mandatory prison time — putting his maximum possible sentence at almost 20 years if he’s convicted.

Two others men involved in the theft are awaiting sentencing after accepting plea deals earlier this month. Mason Farnsworth and Brandon Flemming, were charged with receiving stolen guns and having weapons illegally due to previous felony convictions.

Farnsworth and Flemming, both of Medina, were arrested in September after Barry implicated them in the theft of more than a dozen handguns from DC Guns, 218 N. Court St. The store’s front window was found broken the morning of Sept. 6 and the guns were reported missing.

Medina police have said most of the guns have not been recovered, but the serial numbers of the missing guns have been provided to a national police database and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. If the guns are used in crimes, Medina police said they’ll be alerted.

Suzanne Dabkowski, a spokeswoman for ATF, said Thursday that one gun was recovered the day the three were arrested, and two more were recovered recently.

Dabkowski said she couldn’t provide details on the newly recovered guns.

“I can’t really provide that information because of restrictions with releasing trace information,” she said. “It’s still very much an active investigation.”

Contact reporter Nick Glunt at (330) 721-4048 or nglunt@medina-gazette.com. Follow him on Twitter @ngfalcon.

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A Medina police officer administered Narcan, the drug overdose antidote, to a woman found unconscious at the Medina Library on Friday afternoon.

The 24-year-old Medina resident was revived and taken to Medina Hospital, where she was questioned by detectives.

Police Chief Patrick Berarducci said suspected drug paraphernalia — a syringe and a spoon with white residue — and suspected drugs were found in her purse. He said charges are expected to be filed following the results of blood tests and an analysis of the suspected drugs.

Police Sgt. Ed Kinney said the woman collapsed after coming out of a library bathroom about 4 p.m. She was found by her boyfriend.

“She was unconscious and barely breathing,” Kinney said.

Berarducci said Officer Bryan Wagner administered the Narcan, the brand name of the drug naloxone, which can immediately counteract an overdose caused by an opioid drug, such as heroin or prescription pain medications.

Medina police officers have been authorized to carry Narcan for nearly a year with dramatic success.

“Since April we have responded to 20 overdoses and we have saved 19 people,” Berarducci said. “Absolutely it has saved lives.”

The chief said Narcan also “has given us a way to impact other criminal activity because some of these people cooperate and give up their dealer.

“It’s a great tool.”

Contact David Knox at (330) 721-4065 or dknox@medina-gazette.com.

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A 28-year-old man died in a one-car crash on state Route 303 in Liverpool Township early Saturday.

Michael Setliff, of Elyria, was westbound in a 2003 Honda Accord about 1:15 a.m. when he went airborne crossing railroad tracks, according to the Medina post of the Ohio State Highway Patrol. The car went off the left side of the roadway, striking several mailboxes, and into the parking lot of a business, slamming head on into two parked semi-trailers.

Valley City Fire/EMS responded and Setliff was pronounced dead at the scene.

The Highway Patrol said Setliff wasn’t wearing a seatbelt and speed is a suspected factor in the crash.

The Medina County Sheriff’s Office assisted at the scene.

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A horse had to be put down by a veterinarian after a collision between an Amish buggy and a tractor-trailer Saturday afternoon in Homer Township.

The buggy was eastbound on Greenwich Road near Pawnee Road about 4:30 p.m. when it was struck by a truck, according to the Medina post of the Ohio Highway Patrol.

There were at least two people on the buggy, but no one was injured.

Troopers said the horse was alive after the crash but severely injured. A veterinarian was called to the scene to put the horse down.

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Kenneth Alex Grad, with his attorney, Dennis DiMartino, is sentenced Monday to 24 years in prison on charges of felonious assault and endangering children. He was convicted last month of brutally abusing his infant son in 2008. At left is county Assistant Prosecutor Scott Salisbury. (NICK GLUNT / GAZETTE)

Convicted infant abuser Kenneth Alex Grad was sentenced to 24 years in prison Monday in Medina County Common Pleas Court.

Grad, 44, formerly of Montville Township, was found guilty of felonious assault and endangering children — six second-degree felonies and two third-degree felonies — by a Medina County jury last month. Grad was accused of brutally abusing his infant child in 2008, causing 25 fractures and a lacerated scrotum. Prosecutors told the jury Grad abused the boy because he had wanted a baby girl.

Monday’s sentencing closed the longest ongoing criminal case in county Common Pleas Court. The case took six years to reach trial because of repeated delays caused by plea changes, a judge’s withdrawal from the case, a defense attorney illness and Grad becoming ill. By the time he was tried, Grad had retained 12 attorneys.

Grad’s wife, Laura Grad, was convicted in 2009 of charges of failing to get the boy medical care and has completed a three-year prison term. She was acquitted on charges that she personally injured the boy.

The boy’s older sister, now 8, never showed signs of abuse, but custody was transferred to the same foster family caring for the boy. The family has since adopted both children.

In October 2013, the couple had another child following Laura Grad’s release from prison. In May, custody of the child was transferred to Grad’s aunt and unsupervised visitation rights were granted.

Laura Grad declined to comment on Monday’s sentencing.

When given a chance to speak at the sentencing hearing, Kenneth Alex Grad told Judge Christopher J. Collier that he was falsely accused and was denied his constitutional right to due process because prosecutors refused to let his family test the boy, who’s now 6 years old, for a rare, genetic disorder that causes brittle bones.

Grad said the disorder runs in his wife’s family, so his children have a “50 percent chance” of having it.

“We have been denied every opportunity to test my son for a collagen disorder that runs in my wife’s family,” Grad said. “The state is cowardly and will not let anyone else investigate.”

Throughout his statement, Grad spoke directly to county Assistant Prosecutor Scott Salisbury, occasionally raising his voice.

He accused prosecutors of “covering up new fractures” the boy allegedly sustained after he was adopted, and added that doctors who were questioned during trial changed the boy’s medical records to incriminate him.

“My wife and I are innocent,” he said. “This is bull—-.”

After Grad finished his statement, the prosecutor dismissed his accusations.

“What you’ve just seen is a demonstration of the extreme anger issues he has,” Salisbury told the judge. “This is someone who’s definitely capable and definitely did cause these injuries.”

He said Grad had the chance to call doctors to the witness stand to testify about the genetic disorder running in the family and to take the stand himself to refute the prosecutors’ accusations.

“Instead, we’re hearing this now,” Salisbury said. “Not under oath, not under cross-examination.”

Salisbury accused Grad of not taking responsibility and feeling no remorse for the boy’s injuries, despite “overwhelming evidence” that he caused them.

“To punish him and to protect the community, the state requests the maximum consecutive penalty (of 58 years),” Salisbury told the judge.

Collier said he had no difficulty in deciding on the 24-year sentence.

“Sometimes when you’re doing this job, the sentence makes itself clear to you,” he said. “This is one of those times.”

Collier said the sentence was warranted because “the harm in this case was so great.” He said witnesses testified that the boy had no more fractures since his adoption, despite a rough-and-tumble nature. Additionally, they said the boy had scarring on his face, which likely came from a gag being put in his mouth as an infant.

Grad’s attorney, Dennis DiMartino, argued for a 16-year sentence. DiMartino said Grad intends to appeal the conviction and sentencing to the 9th District Court of Appeals, but he has contacted the Ohio Public Defender’s Office to represent him for those proceedings.

DiMartino told The Gazette he was disappointed with the sentence.

“I’m sad that Alex is going to prison, but I respect the judge’s decision,” he said. “I’m not surprised by the 24 years — but it could have been much worse.”

During sentencing, DiMartino asked the judge to rule on several motions he’d filed that morning — including a motion for a new trial because of a pediatrician’s “inconsistencies” during testimony and motion to stop Grad from serving his prison sentence until the appeal proceedings are complete.

The judge denied all of DiMartino’s motions.

Contact reporter Nick Glunt at (330) 721-4048 or nglunt@medina-gazette.com. Follow him on Twitter @ngfalcon.

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A 24-year-old Columbia Station man was sentenced Monday to four years in prison and a lifetime driving ban for critically injuring an off-duty police officer in a drunken hit-and-run crash last year.

Dalton Phillips pleaded no contest last month to charges of aggravated vehicular assault and failure to stop after a crash — third-, fourth- and fifth-degree felonies. He faced up to 6½ years in prison.

According to the Medina post of the Ohio Highway Patrol, the crash occurred March 1 on Station Road near the border of Medina and Lorain counties.

Jack Justice, a 15-year veteran of the North Olmsted police department, was headed home to Liverpool Township after work that morning when he was struck head-on. According to reports, Phillips lost control of his pickup and went off the road before overcorrecting and crashing into Justice’s vehicle.

Phillips flipped his truck in the crash and fled the scene, according to troopers.

Justice, who could not be reached for comment, suffered a significant brain injury from the crash and spent 25 days on a ventilator. He has since returned to work.

At his sentencing, Phillips expressed regret for causing the crash.

“My heart is filled with so much remorse,” he told the judge. “I can’t say how I feel for this man and his family, and what he’s lost and what I’ve lost as well.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Contact reporter Nick Glunt at (330) 721-4048 or nglunt@medina-gazette.com. Follow him on Twitter @ngfalcon.

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Firefighters battle a blaze at 8491 Yoder Road in Guilford Township on Tuesday morning. (ANDREW DAVIS / GAZETTE)

A blaze Tuesday morning left a snowbound rural home in Guilford Township in ruins.

A neighbor reported the fire at 8491 Yoder Road about 10:45 a.m.

Seville-Guilford Fire Department Chief Jerry Winkler said fire trucks had problems getting up the home’s 1,600-foot dirt driveway because of drifting snow.

Crews snaked hoses down the long driveway to get water to the tanker close to the house.

“The trucks had a little problem and started to slide off the driveway,” Winkler said. “We also had to lay hose as far as we could go.”

Firefighters also filled up a rubber reservoir on the street where tankers dumped water from nearby ponds to aid in the fight.

No one was in the house when the fire broke out. But homeowner Mike Demiter arrived shortly after the firefighters and drove halfway up the driveway before being blocked by a fire hose.

Demiter jumped out of his pickup and ran to his house, which was engulfed by flames.

He might have run right up to his burning house but firefighters stopped him and tried to calm him down. Demiter then
walked over to a barn next to the home. With his back to the burning house, he raised his hands to the sky and said, “It’s all gone.”

He declined to be interviewed.

The chief said Demiter and his wife have family and friends who are providing help.
Winkler said the house was a total loss, but gave no dollar estimate of the damage. The county auditor set the value of the property at $142,550, including the value of the 2.5 acres.

Winkler said the cause of the fire hasn’t been determined.

Besides Seville, crews from Wadsworth, Lafayette, Rittman, Westfield, Sterling, Creston and Sharon fire departments battled the flames for four hours. Winkler said the fire was under control at 11:30 a.m.

The blaze is the sixth major structure fire in Medina County since the start of the year:
• On Jan. 5, six fire departments responded to a house fire at 7291 Stone Road in York Township. The cause of the fire that gutted the sprawling $1.8 million home is under investigation by the state fire marshal.
• That same afternoon, six fire departments responded to a pole barn fire at 5546 Egypt Road in Chatham Township.
• The next day, Jan. 6, five fire departments from the southern portion of the county assisted in a blaze that severely damaged a house on Brook Road in Wadsworth.
• On Jan. 7, a fire destroyed a home on Jones Road, near Bryenton Road, in Litchfield Township.
• Less than a week later, on Jan. 12, firefighters worked for more than four hours to put out a fire at a barn, built in 1920, on Crow Road in Litchfield Township.

Contact reporter Andrew Davis at (330) 721-4050 or adavis@medina-gazette.com.

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In this November 1989 file photo, Tommy Thompson holds a $50 pioneer gold piece retrieved earlier in 1989 from the wreck of the gold ship Central America. According to the US Marshals Service, Thompson, a fugitive treasure hunter wanted for more than two years, was arrested in Florida. (AP FILE PHOTO)

A treasure hunter locked in a legal battle over one of the greatest undersea hauls in American history was arrested in Florida after more than two years on the lam, authorities said Wednesday.

The U.S. Marshals Service tracked Tommy Thompson to a Hilton hotel in West Boca Raton and arrested him Tuesday, said Brian Babtist, a senior inspector in the agency’s office in Columbus, Ohio, where a federal civil arrest warrant was issued for him in 2012 for failing to show up to a key court hearing.

Authorities didn’t immediately explain how they were finally able to track down Thompson, whom they called “one of the most intelligent fugitives ever sought by the U.S. Marshals.”

Thompson made history in 1988 when he found the sunken S.S. Central America, also known as the Ship of Gold. In what was a technological feat at the time, Thompson and his crew brought up thousands of gold bars and coins from the shipwreck. Much of that was later sold to a gold marketing group in 2000 for about $50 million.

The 161 investors who paid Thompson $12.7 million to find the ship never saw returns from the sale. Two of them sued — a now-deceased investment firm president and the Dispatch Printing Company, which publishes The Columbus Dispatch newspaper and had invested about $1 million.

That legal battle is ongoing, and those close to Thompson say it was his undoing.

Gil Kirk, who heads a Columbus real estate firm and is a former director of one of Thompson’s companies, told The Associated Press last year that Thompson never cheated anyone. Kirk said proceeds from the 2000 sale of the gold all went to legal fees and bank loans.

“He was a genius, and they’ve stolen his life,” Kirk said of those who sued.

Thompson went into seclusion in 2006, moving into a mansion called Gracewood in Vero Beach, Florida. Six years later, after the arrest warrant was issued, Thompson vanished.

When the property’s caretakers searched the mansion, they found prepaid disposable cellphones and bank wraps for $10,000 scattered about, along with a bank statement in the name of Harvey Thompson showing a $1 million balance, court records said. Harvey, according to friends, was Thompson’s nickname in college.

Also found was a book called “How to Live Your Life Invisible.” One marked page was titled: “Live your life on a cash-only basis.”

Columbus attorney Rick Robol, who at one time defended Thompson’s company, has said there’s no proof Thompson stole anything. He said he’s been concerned about Thompson’s health, which is why he called the arrest “the best thing that can happen for everybody.”

Babtist said Thompson was arrested along with his longtime companion, Alison Antekeier, and the couple had been staying in a two-person suite at the Hilton for two years.

The hotel is in an upscale suburban area surrounded by golf courses, country clubs and gated communities. It’s less than 10 miles from the beach, and it has a pool and a running track.

The Marshals Service said Thompson Antekeier had no vehicles registered in their names and that Antekeier used public buses and taxis to move around Palm Beach County.

“The couple offered no resistance at the time of the arrest and readily admitted to being the targets of the extensive investigation,” the Marshals Service said in a news release.

Thompson was set for an initial appearance in federal court Thursday in West Palm Beach, while Antekeier was scheduled for an extradition hearing Feb. 4. It’s unclear whether she was ordered to remain in custody until the hearing.

No criminal charges have been filed against Thompson, but Babtist said the treasure hunter will likely be ordered held in custody until he appears before an Ohio judge to give an accounting for the gold’s sale and his actions.

“I don’t imagine he’s going to get any bond because he’s already been a fugitive and knowingly evaded law enforcement,” Babtist said. “I don’t know what kind of means he has as far as money goes, but I’m sure they don’t want to take any chances with him leaving the country or absconding again.”

In one of the worst shipping disasters in American history, the S.S. Central America sank in a monster hurricane about 200 miles off the South Carolina coast in September 1857; 425 people drowned and thousands of pounds of California gold were lost, contributing to an economic panic.

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Floyd Keisner

A 22-year-old Akron man was arrested Tuesday, charged with raping a Medina woman in September and threatening her if she told police.

Floyd Keisner is being held at the Summit County Jail on charges of rape and kidnapping, first-degree felonies. He is scheduled for arraignment today in Akron Municipal Court.

Summit County sheriff’s spokesman Bill Holland said Keisner is accused of sexually assaulting the 20-year-old Medina woman at a Stark County motel in September after she picked him up from an airport when he returned from Army basic training.

“They have known each other for several years,” Holland said. “They were familiar with one another, and that’s why he contacted her when he returned to the area in September.”

Holland said Keisner threatened the woman through text messages and sexually assaulted her a second time at his home in Akron about a week later.

Holland said Keisner is accused of taking the woman’s phone and keys before dragging her inside and hitting, choking and binding the woman by her hands while he assaulted her.

The case was investigated last month by Medina County sheriff’s detectives, who passed the allegations to the Summit County Sheriff’s Office after discovering the alleged rapes happened in Summit and Stark counties.

Contact reporter Nick Glunt at (330) 721-4048 or nglunt@medina-gazette.com. Follow him on Twitter @ngfalcon.

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Charles Herdendorf, professor emeritus of limnology and oceonography, and president of Sheffield Village Historical Society, holds a photo Thursday and a strand of golden coral named in his honor. The coral was discovered during a recovery operation of the S.S. Central America off the Carolina coast. (STEVE MANHEIM / GAZETTE)

Charles Herdendorf hasn’t seen or heard from Tommy Thompson in years.

But the well-known former Ohio State University oceanography professor wasn’t surprised when told Thompson, a one-time treasure hunter and fugitive from justice, may fight extradition to Ohio over allegations he cheated investors out of about $50 million in gold Thompson recovered from a famed 1857 ship sinking.

“That sounds like Tommy,” Herdendorf said of his former OSU student when reached by phone Thursday about the case that resurfaced this week with news of Thompson’s arrest by U.S. marshals at a Hilton hotel in Boca Raton, Florida, after more than two years eluding authorities.

“People want to know things, and Tommy’s motto was ‘full disclosure at the appropriate time,’ but apparently that time never arrived,” Herdendorf said of the past several years of Thompson’s life.

A retired OSU emeritus professor who lives in Sheffield in Lorain County, Herdendorf accompanied Thompson, now 61, on his successful 1987-88 quest to find the S.S. Central America, long known as the “Ship of Gold,” which sank in the Atlantic during a savage 1857 hurricane with one of the most valuable cargos in U.S. maritime history.

Thompson is accused of having cheated 150-plus investors out of their expected shares of some $50 million in gold bars and coins, much of which he is alleged to have sold in 2000 to a gold marketing group.

“It’s a little disappointing,” Herdendorf said. “He was fun to work with, and a very bright person.”

Acknowledging the difficulty in truly knowing someone and what motivates him, Herdendorf is at a loss to figure out what happened to Thompson.

“He was more wrapped up in the adventure than the monetary part of it,” Herdendorf said. “I don’t think he had it in his mind to deceitfully cheat investors.”

Herdendorf said Thompson’s troubles may have been the result of bad business and or legal advice.

“He just kind of tripped out along the way,” Herdendorf said.

Herdendorf signed on at Thompson’s request to serve as a scientific consultant for the expedition that found the gold-laden ship in 8,000 feet of water 200 miles off the South Carolina coast. The sinking claimed the lives of 425 people.

Thompson was paid $12.7 million by investors to find the sunken vessel.

The Dispatch Printing Co., which publishes The Columbus Dispatch newspaper, and the late Donald Fanta, who headed a Columbus securities firm, sued Thompson in 2005 to gain access to financial records and other documents pertaining to the shipwreck after Thompson ignored repeated requests for the information.

Crew members of the Arctic Discoverer, the research vessel that found the gold ship, also filed suit seeking a percentage of the profits from sale of the gold.

Thompson is not charged with any crimes, but he is expected to be ordered held until he appears before an Ohio judge to answer for his actions and provide details on the sale of the recovered gold, said Babtist of the U.S. Marshal Service in Columbus.

Thompson had evaded authorities since 2012 when a federal civil arrest warrant was issued after he failed to show up for a court hearing over the disputed treasure.

Gil Kirk, a Columbus realtor and ex-director of one of Thompson’s businesses, said in 2014 Thompson never cheated anyone, and that proceeds from the 2000 sale of the ship’s gold went to pay bank loans and legal fees.

Thompson suggested to a West Palm Beach, Florida, judge Thursday during a short hearing that he might resist efforts to have his legal case brought to Ohio where his investors are, claiming he’s seriously ill, according to news accounts of the hearing.

Herdendorf spent several years working with Thompson to locate the S.S. Central America.

Paid as a consultant, Herdendorf’s scientific efforts led to the discovery of several new species of ocean life, three of which were named after Herdendorf by the Smithsonian Institution, including a form of golden coral he found growing on a gold bar at the site of the shipwreck.

“That was really an honor,” Herderdorf said. “I got a call one morning while having breakfast from the Smithsonian telling me they were naming this coral after me, but I had to be very secretive about it. They didn’t want the name to be used until they had it in print.”

In 1995, Herdendorf published “Science on a Deep-Ocean Shipwreck” that chronicled the expedition’s scientific findings.

Three years later a federal court in Norfolk, Virginia, awarded Thompson 93 percent of the recovered gold. The remainder went to insurers that claimed rights to part of the treasure based on claims paid by insurance firms in the 1800s following the sinking.

Herdendorf’s work with the S.S. Central America isn’t finished.

Last year, he helped prepare scientific plans for a new exploration of the ship prompted by investors still looking for gold they didn’t receive following the first expedition, Herdendorf said.

Asked if he planned to go on this second venture, Herdendorf, 75, said it’s unlikely.

“I would have gone, but I think they felt I was too long in the tooth. I’d be out there for four months and I don’t think my wife would appreciate that,” he said.

The cargo manifest of the S.S. Central America said there was roughly 3 tons of gold aboard the vessel, Herderdorf said.

“They’ve learned recently that something in the range of 2.4 tons was recovered,” he said, meaning more than a half-ton of gold may remain aboard.

The new expedition also may search for what Herdendorf described as “huge” quantities of gold carried by passengers that were not documented at the time.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

Contact reporter Steve Fogarty at (440) 329-7146 or sfogarty@chroniclet.com .

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Police are urging Medina County residents to have a designated driver for Super Bowl festivities this weekend.

“Drunk driving is completely preventable. All it takes is a little planning,” said Brunswick police Lt. Brian Ohlin, who also serves as commander of the Medina County OVI Task Force. “We want fans to remember that it’s a choice. Drink or drive — but never do both.”

Kickoff for Sunday’s big game is 6:30 p.m.

Police suggest hosts of Super Bowl parties should honor the designated drivers, including giving them the best spots to watch the game and letting them have the first pass at any food served.

Party hosts can be held liable and prosecuted if someone they serve ends up causing a crash while intoxicated, police said.

Additionally, they said everyone should be especially careful to wear seat belts Sunday in case of other drivers who may not be as responsible.

“Make the right play and pass your keys to a designated driver so they can get you home safely,” Brunswick police Chief Carl DeForest said. “The men and women of the Brunswick Division of Police and all Medina County Law Enforcement Partners will be out to stop anyone who decides to drink and drive.”

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CINCINNATI — Officials in southwest Ohio are investigating a vehicle fire that occurred in a grocery store parking lot after authorities determined it was caused by a one-pot meth lab explosion.

The Hamilton County Sheriff’s office says deputies and fire officials responded to a report of a vehicle fire in the parking lot of Remke Markets in Cincinnati shortly after 7 p.m. Thursday. Authorities say a witness saw an explosion inside a 2000 Dodge Durango before two men exited the vehicle, picked up a burning object and fled.

Narcotics officials and fire investigators determined the explosion was caused by a single-pot meth lab inside the vehicle.

Officials haven’t located the two men who exited the car, but believe they suffered chemical burns to their upper bodies.

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Natalie Grubb

A Medina attorney has sued a former client, alleging that he failed to pay more than $75,000 in attorneys’ fees to resolve a $10,000 legal dispute.

But, according to court documents, the client — James Justice, of Brunswick Hills-based Architectural Justice — told attorney Natalie Grubb’s law firm that he never agreed to spend $75,000 to resolve the dispute.

In her lawsuit, Grubb said she represented Justice from 2007 to 2011 at a “very reasonable” hourly fee of $85. Her services included defending Justice in a lawsuit worth “over six figures” filed against him by a former client. Justice’s case took four years to reach a settlement and asked Medina County Common Pleas Judge Christopher J. Collier to award her $75,196.06 plus yearly interest dating back to 2007 as well as court costs.

According to court filings, Justice told Grubb’s law firm in an email that he had already paid $7,500 in invoices in 2007 and 2008 and offered to pay $13,000 to end her services.

“When Natalie and I discussed her representation, she suggested that the total bill might approach $10,000,” Justice said in the documents. “I never agreed to spend $75,000 to resolve a $10,000 dispute, which I also had to pay an additional $15,000 to settle.”

When reached for comment, Justice said he was sad to see the dispute filed in court.

“It’s a difficult situation. We were friends and very professional with each other, and it just came to this,” he said. “Hopefully this can just go to mediation and have one of Medina County’s reputable judges help us resolve it.”

Grubb, 56, could not be reached for comment.

In September, the Ohio Supreme Court issued a six-month suspension of Grubb’s law license that was put on hold as long as she engages in no more misconduct.

The discipline came as a result of Grubb’s guilty plea in 2013 to a charge of complicity to commit worker’s compensation fraud in Franklin County Municipal Court. She received no jail time but was ordered to pay $14,441 in restitution and investigative costs.

In that case, the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation found Grubb was employing a woman while also acting as the woman’s attorney as the woman tried to get her worker’s compensation benefits from the state.

Grubb’s case file has since been sealed.

Months before the suspension was issued, a former client of Grubb’s sued her, accusing her of fraud, breach of duty and failure to provide competent services.

In that case, the client said she paid Grubb $30,000 in March 2012 but did not receive attorney’s services in return.

That case is still in county court.

Contact reporter Nick Glunt at (330) 721-4048 or nglunt@medina-gazette.com. Follow him on Twitter @ngfalcon.

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Squads from York, Lafayette, Liverpool, Litchfield and Columbia townships and students from the Medina County Career Center take winter water rescue training Saturday in York Township. (ALEC SMITH / GAZETTE PHOTOS)

Fire and rescue trainee Jordan McDonald, left, practices saving fellow trainee Ethan Simon during winter water rescue training Saturday in York Township. (ALEC SMITH / GAZETTE)

Firefighters pull rescue trainees Jordan McDonald, behind, and Ethan Simon from the freezing water during winter water rescue training Saturday in York Township. Squads from York, Lafayette, Liverpool, Litchfield and Columbia townships and students from the Medina County Career Center participated in the training. (ALEC SMITH / GAZETTE)

(ALEC SMITH / GAZETTE)

(ALEC SMITH / GAZETTE)

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Officials agreed to a price tag of $10 million for the 25,000- to-30,000- square-foot Medina Municipal Court complex. (Gazette file)

Medina City officials and Municipal Court Judge Dale H. Chase met Monday and agreed on a price tag and four possible designs for the new courthouse.

Officials agreed to a price tag of $10 million for both the courthouse and parking garage.
Chase cautioned that the estimate might be low.

“I think that’s optimistic,” Chase said. “The only reason I’m saying that is I’m concerned with where construction costs are going.”

The city has $3.9 million in a Courts Special Projects Fund now but will have at least $4.2 by the time the project goes out to bid in about 1½ years.

The city plans to sell bonds to pay for the remainder of the cost.

The 25,000- to-30,000-square-foot complex has a tentative completion date of August 2017.

“That is a reasonable figure for what would be needed for planning purposes for current and future needs,” Council President John Coyne said of the complex’s size.

The new building would replace the Municipal Courthouse, at 135 N. Elmwood Ave., across from City Hall.
Chase said the additional space in the new courthouse could be used a second judge down the line.

“My goal in doing this is to meet the needs of the court for the next 20 years,” Chase said.

Council members and judge mulled over four design plans for the courthouse.

Only one option would use the Masonic Temple building, which the city purchased at auction last year for $258,000.

The other three designs call for demolishing the building, which borders the City Hall parking lot.

The various design options call for building the new courthouse as an addition to City Hall or a free-standing building where the Masonic Temple now stands.

All the options call for a parking garage on the south side of West Liberty Street, at Elmwood Avenue.
West Virginia-based Silling Architects provided the plans for the complex.

<em>Contact reporter Andrew Davis at (330) 721-4050 or <a href=”mailto://adavis@medina-gazette.com”>adavis@medina-gazette.com</a>.</em>

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PITTSBURGH — An Ohio man who sold fake urine and other products meant to help people pass workplace drug tests has pleaded guilty before a federal judge in Pennsylvania.

David Neal, 61 of Middletown, Ohio, pleaded guilty Monday to conspiracy to defraud the United States and introduction of misbranded drugs into interstate commerce. He faces up to six years in prison when he returns to Pittsburgh for sentencing May 13.

U.S. Attorney David Hickton said Neal sold illegal substances online beginning in 2006 through his company, ACS Herbal Tea.

Some of Neal’s products, including “Magnum Unisex Synthetic Urine” and “Urine Luck,” were designed to thwart tests overseen by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

Such tests are used by the U.S. Department of Transportation to screen airline pilots, truck drivers and train engineers, as well as some federal employees, including FBI agents. Court records indicate undercover agents bought some of the products in 2010 and 2012 as part of the investigation into Neal’s company.

Neal’s case is similar to that of Stephen Sharp, a former US Airways Express pilot who pleaded guilty in 2010 to selling a powdered drink mix over the Internet that he claimed was 100 percent effective in helping pilots and others pass the federally mandated drug tests. Sharp, of Port Orange, Florida, was sentenced to nine months in federal prison and lost his pilot’s job after pleading guilty, also in Pittsburgh.

Neal’s attorney, Paul Laufman, told the judge at Monday’s guilty plea hearing that Neal now realizes his products “are not as harmless as he thought,” the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reported. Laufman declined to comment when contacted Tuesday by The Associated Press.

Neal’s plea on the misbranded drug charge stemmed from the sale of two products, “Eliminator Detox Carbo Drink” and “Quick Flush Herbal Detox Pills.” Those products were also designed to flush drug residue from a person’s system. The government considers those products to be drugs, but Neal didn’t identify the substances that way on labels or in advertisements, prosecutors said.

Neal remains free on bond pending his sentencing. He could face a fine of up to $350,000 and probation after any prison term that may be imposed.

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Dennis McGuire

The family of an Ohio inmate whose troubling execution more than a year ago led to an unofficial moratorium on capital punishment in the state is dropping its civil rights lawsuit.

The adult children of executed inmate Dennis McGuire, who snorted and gasped when put to death with a never-tried two-drug combo, asked a federal judge Monday to dismiss the lawsuit filed against the state and an Illinois drugmaker.

The lawsuit said McGuire suffered “needless pain and suffering” during his January 2014 execution using a sedative, midazolam, and a painkiller, hydropmorphone.

A nearly two-hour execution in Arizona in July deepened concerns about the same two-drug method.

The state prisons agency announced last month it was dropping the method in favor of alternative anesthetics, which it currently doesn’t have.

That decision satisfied McGuire’s family, eliminating the need to pursue the lawsuit, said attorney Jon Paul Rion.

“They wanted to be assured that nobody else would be subjected to the same drugs that their father was, subjected to in the way that he died,” he said. “By bringing the suffering to light, the state of Ohio has clearly changed its protocol.”

The state attorney general’s office, which represented the prisons agency, declined comment, as did Lake Forest, Ill.-based Hospira Inc.

McGuire was executed for the 1989 rape and stabbing death of Joy Stewart, 22, a recently married pregnant woman in western Ohio.

On April 28, the Department of Rehabilitation and Correction concluded there was no evidence that McGuire “experienced any pain, distress or anxiety.”

The two-drug method was Ohio’s second choice under its former execution rules, but it was unable to obtain supplies of its first choice, compounded pentobarbital, a drug used by Missouri and Texas in several recent executions.

Last year, Gov. John Kasich signed a bill into law shielding the names of companies that provide Ohio with lethal drugs, a move aimed at persuading compounding pharmacies to provide pentobarbital.

Executions after McGuire were put on hold by court rulings. Last week, the state said it was pushing all executions into next year.

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