Document made public, lays out allegations of retaliation, discrimination, assault by J.D. Tomlinson

A judge ruled Tuesday that a document connected to a $100,000 settlement between Lorain County Prosecutor J.D. Tomlinson and his former girlfriend/employee — a document that Tomlinson fought for nearly a year to keep out of public view — is a public record and should be released. In the Oct. 10, 2023 "communication," Jennifer Battistelli accused Tomlinson of sex discrimination, retaliation, and assault that led to her resignation from his office two months earlier. After Battistelli was reprimanded for another internal office matter and took the matter to Tomlinson on Aug. 15, 2023, he allegedly physically assaulted her, according to a draft of an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission charge that Battistelli filled out but never filed with the federal agency. Read the document: EEOC complaint redacted.pdf In the document, Battistelli wrote that she immediately resigned as Tomlinson's public relations and community outreach coordinator. Her attorney, Jack Moran, then sent the draft EEOC charge to the Prosecutor's Office while a settlement agreement was being negotiated. Tomlinson's office paid Battistelli a $100,000, taxpayer-funded settlement with the unanimous approval from the Lorain County Board of Commissioners. Tomlinson has said the settlement came after Battistelli was punished for filing a discrimination complaint that was later determined to be unfounded. He and his attorneys tried to hide the allegations in the document for nearly a year, saying they were embarrassing, but the "communication" was released after Visiting Judge Thomas Teodosio ruled it was a public record under Ohio law. Read the order: http://d34okl4jnxrvy2.cloudfront.net/MTS_Beta_Elyria/files/0/0/0/0/250/2/EEOC complaint redacted.pdf. Tomlinson said he was surprised Teodosio released the document. He said his office didn't get it until after it had settled with Battistelli. "Most" of what the "communication" alleges "is not only patently false, it is also defamatory," Tomlinson said in a statement provided to The Chronicle-Telegram. "I don't believe that Ms. Battistelli is going to approve of the way in which her attorney has described her, now that this has become public," he wrote. "I know that she took pride in the job that she did with our outreach efforts. In this regard, we had obtained expert opinions from two private attorneys explaining that the mere publication of this document, by anyone, would expose the publisher to liability for defamation." Tomlinson wrote that politics "has thickened my skin." "People say things about me all the time that are not true. It comes with the territory. But we were trying to protect Ms. Battistelli from that level of embarrassment. I wish we could have done better," he wrote. Kenneth Lieux, one of Battistelli's attorneys, said his client had no comment. "As her lawyer, I would just say the EEOC complaint speaks for itself," Lieux said. "It's sworn to as true by her and notarized by her (former) attorney." Accusing Tomlinson of violating the non-disclosure and disparagement provisions of the settlement agreement, another attorney representing Battistelli on Sept. 4 sent the Prosecutor's Office a letter demanding $350,000 in compensation from Tomlinson "for the Lorain County Prosecutor's repeated breaches of the confidentiality and non-disparagement clauses" of their nearly year-old agreement. The settlement was reached around the same time Moran emailed a draft copy of Battistelli's EEOC charge to Tomlinson's chief civil prosecutor, Dan Petticord, on Oct. 10, 2023. Made aware of its existence, The Chronicle requested the "communication" three times in the past year. It was denied each time. First by the Prosecutor's Office in November, which said there were "no records responsive" to that request; a second time by attorney Amy Imbrogno, who on behalf of Tomlinson wrote "that any of the documents to which you refer in the request, to the extent that they exist, are not records of the Lorain County Prosecutor's Office as defined by" Ohio law; and most recently by Tomlinson's chief of staff, James Burge, in a letter on Prosecutor's Office letterhead dated Aug. 14 that he emailed to The Chronicle. Appointed by the Ohio Supreme Court to oversee a lawsuit against Tomlinson seeking public records related to the Battistelli settlement, Teodosio ruled Tuesday that the document is a public record and should be released. The Chronicle then obtained a copy of the document on Tuesday from attorney Jonathan Rosenbaum, who sued for its release. Tomlinson, a Democrat, is running for reelection against Tony Cillo, a Republican, in November. Cillo, Tomlinson's opponent in the November election, called the revelations in the now-public communication "troubling." "I guess I'd encourage people to continue to read the stories" in The Chronicle about the controversy, he said. "This is troubling and will do nothing but chill people who are involved in human trafficking who are victims and victims of sexual assault because they are going to be reluctant to come forward and work with that office." In the EEOC complaint, Battistelli wrote that she was Tomlinson's director of public relations and community outreach coordinator for approximately 2½ years, and "during my employment, my supervisor, J.D. Tomlinson, pursued and fostered a romantic and sexual relationship with me," she wrote. "Throughout this relationship, I felt that I needed to comply with Tomlinson's desires or else I would lose my job," she wrote. "In arguments over the nature and future of our relationship, Tomlinson indicated to me that he did not view my job as necessary with the county and that I was required to 'do whatever I say you do.'" "As a result, I was the victim of sexual harassment," Battistelli wrote. "Our relationship had been used as a basis to deny me appropriate pay raises or job transfers, as Tomlinson said he wanted to be sure no one had any reason to 'find out' about our relationship." "At various points, I attempted to discontinue the romantic/sexual aspect of this relationship and maintain only an employer-employee dynamic — most recently, in August 2023," she wrote. "When I did this, Tomlinson became exceedingly upset that I was not communicating with him via telephone and text, and also accused me of 'flirting' with other men." "Tomlinson, directly or through instructions with others, would insist that I always be available to answer his requests and calls," she wrote. While this was happening, Battistelli went to Petticord "to express my concern about race/ethnicity discrimination." She told Petticord that one of Tomlinson's investigators, Garrett "Gary" Longacre, was improperly discriminating against a Latina/Hispanic employee. According to Battistelli, Longacre had resisted hiring the woman and also resisted paying her appropriately "because, in his words, she was 'ghetto.'" Allegedly "forced" to hire her, Longacre "physically segregated her form the other similarly situated employees in the office performing the same job," Battistelli alleged. This refers to an incident where Battistelli reported to her superiors that a victim advocate in the office had complained about discrimination. Longacre, who was supervising the victim advocates in Tomlinson's office, filed a formal complaint against Battistelli based on her claim to Petticord that Longacre was discriminating against the employee. Petticord, Chief of Staff James Burge and Chief Investigator Rich Resendez investigated, found there was no discrimination, and Battistelli was instead reprimanded. "In response to my complaint, Longacre, Tomlinson and office employee Jim Burge collectively targeted me by (1) accusing me of filing a 'false complaint,' (2) preparing a document for my personnel file indicating that my complaint was 'untrue,' and (3) requiring that I sign a retraction authored by Burge," Battistelli wrote. A letter of discipline allegedly was put in Battistelli's employee file. But no such letter of discipline was included in the file The Chronicle-Telegram obtained through a public records request last year. Battistelli further alleged that on Aug. 15, 2023, she met with Tomlinson "to discuss my concerns about how his office was reacting to my sincere discrimination complaint." "In anger, Tomlinson yelled at me, grabbed me, and shook me, leaving injuries and bruises," she wrote. "I immediately left the office and resigned my position out of fear for my safety and security, and thus was constructively discharged from my employment in retaliation for raising concerns about discrimination and/or ending my sexual relationship with Tomlinson." In a lengthy statement he provided to the newspaper on May 8, Tomlinson said his Civil Division attorneys later decided Battistelli's reprimand shouldn't have happened, and that she resigned over Tomlinson's refusal to intervene on her behalf. "I should have intervened. I lost a good employee," Tomlinson wrote in the May 8 statement, while also praising Battistelli's work. Several videos Battistelli took on her cellphone show her and Tomlinson arguing in 2023 have surfaced in recent weeks. In one video taken by Battistelli in Tomlinson's office, Tomlinson used profanity and smacked her in the head, Battistelli and Lieux alleged. No physical contact can be seen. Tomlinson has denied hitting Battistelli. In February, attorney James Barilla sued Tomlinson in Common Pleas Court to get public records related to the settlement. A Republican, Barilla is represented by Rosenbaum. In June, Teodosio ordered Tomlinson to provide the Oct. 10, 2023, "communication" to Barilla and Rosenbaum, but ruled they could not share it publicly. Teodosio ruled Tuesday that the "communication is a document that meets the broad definition of a record," that Barilla had shown "a clear legal right" to it and that it should be made public "without restriction." Upon the ruling, Rosenbaum provided a copy to The Chronicle. "The public has the right to know when its funds are being used for hush money," Rosenbaum said Tuesday after Teodosio's decision was released. Tomlinson had argued that "not every document received by a public office is a 'record,'" but Ohio public records law should be "construed liberally in favor of broad access," Teodosio wrote in his ruling. In May, Tomlinson alleged that Moran fabricated allegations against him on Battistelli's behalf. Moran denied doing so, told Tomlinson to retract the claim, and said he planned to seek his own legal counsel. Tomlinson has not publicly retracted that claim. Tomlinson wrote May 8 that "the final decision to settle the Battistelli matter was made by me," and that "Dan Petticord acted in his capacity as my attorney." The county Board of Commissioners OK'd the settlement in October. Criticized for not making the settlement through the County Risk Sharing Authority, the county's insurance plan, Tomlinson defended his decision. He said CORSA, as it is known, might have refused to pay Battistelli based on the nature of her claims and the terms of the county's agreement with its insurance provider. He also said he avoided an increase in the county's insurance premiums and "costly and time-consuming litigation that would have ensued and settled the matter." Petticord is running for Common Pleas Court judge as a Democrat in November against attorney Giovanna Scaletta-Bremke, a Republican. He also is legal counsel to the Board of Commissioners. So far, Commissioners David Moore and Jeff Riddell, both Republicans, have declined to say anything on the matter, while Commissioner Michelle Hung, also a Republican, has questioned Tomlinson's truthfulness and the way the settlement was presented to the board ahead of its vote. Petticord said Tuesday he received Moran's Oct. 10, 2023, email about a week after settlement negotiations began. "My job in this case was to represent the elected prosecutor, and to reach settlement terms he could accept based on what I believed to be at the time, a viable claim," he said. "That's the focus that I had at the time and I think that's the appropriate focus for a lawyer to have: To represent his client in the matter at hand." "My involvement was limited to negotiating the terms of the settlement," Petticord said. Scaletta-Bremke said she had no comment on the matter. Rosenbaum and Tomlinson also have history between them. Rosenbaum was the assistant Lorain County prosecutor who secured a conviction in the 1990s Head Start child abuse case and put Joseph Allen and Nancy Smith in prison for allegedly assaulting children in Lorain. Allen and Smith proclaimed their innocence for more than 30 years, but their convictions were upheld by the courts. Tomlinson reopened the case after he was elected prosecutor in 2020. He got the charges against Allen and Smith dismissed in 2022. Smith then sued Rosenbaum, the city of Lorain, and multiple former Lorain police officers for wrongful conviction in U.S. District Court in Cleveland in February. The case is pending. Tomlinson supporters, including Smith, have alleged that Battistelli's allegations are revenge for Tomlinson helping Smith go free. The Lorain County Sheriff's Office, the Auditor of State's Office and the FBI also are investigating Tomlinson for possible criminal charges, according to Sheriff Phil Stammitti related to the Battistelli matter. Denying any wrongdoing, Tomlinson has said he welcomes the investigation. A fellow Democrat with a history of butting heads with Tomlinson, Stammitti is not running for reelection this year. Tomlinson hired Battistelli in January 2021 at the start of his first term as elected prosecutor. The two started dating several months after Tomlinson took office, according to Tomlinson. Battistelli previously had worked on Tomlinson's election campaigns in 2016 and 2020. As a criminal defense attorney, Tomlinson represented Battistelli in 2019 after she was charged with misdemeanor domestic violence in Avon Lake Municipal Court. That charge was reduced to misdemeanor disorderly conduct, Battistelli pleaded no contest and was fined $150 plus court costs, according to Avon Lake Municipal Court records. By pleading no contest, she did not admit guilt but admitted the truth of the allegations. Contact Dave O'Brien at (440) 329-7129 or dobrien@chroniclet.com.