Three of Portage County’s cities are attempting to recover funds they say were wrongfully withheld from them by the county sheriff when a drug task force they were all members of disbanded more than two years ago.
Kent, Ravenna and Streetsboro have joined forces in a civil complaint, filed in Portage County Court of Common Pleas in November, naming the county and Sheriff Bruce Zuchowski as co-defendants.
The defendants have denied the claims and are asking the court to dismiss the case.
A March 8 pretrial to initiate discovery in the matter is scheduled.
The Portage County Drug Task Force disbanded when Zuchowski, less than a year after taking office, announced in November 2021 that he was pulling the sheriff’s office out, according to the complaint.
The task force was formed in the late 1980s and included officers from the Aurora, Garrettsville, Ravenna, Kent, Streetsboro, and Windham police departments, the Portage County Sheriff’s Office and the Portage County Prosecutor’s Office. The force was involved in investigating drug-related crimes and making numerous subsequent arrests throughout the years.