By MARY ANN GREIER

Staff Writer

LISBON — A former area police officer is facing a multitude of felony and misdemeanor counts, including retaliation, intimidation, menacing and telecommunications harassment, for allegedly making threats against Columbiana County Municipal Court Judge Tim McNicol, the county prosecutor’s office and at least three others last month.

Matthew Elser, 44, Market Street, Columbiana, was recently served with the secret indictment issued by the July session of the county grand jury and will face arraignment in Columbiana County Common Pleas Court at 1 p.m. July 31. Bond was set at $100,000 cash or surety and he remains jailed.

The list of charges against Elser now includes: one count third-degree felony intimidation, four counts of third-degree felony retaliation, one count third-degree felony intimidation of an attorney, victim or witness in a criminal case, and misdemeanors of five counts telecommunications harassment, five counts aggravated menacing, and one count unlawful restraint.

According to the indictment, the unlawful restraint charge dates back to Oct. 10, 2024 when Elser allegedly restrained a woman of her liberty at a house in Columbiana. An affidavit filed in county Municipal Court regarding the incident alleged that he was drunk and throwing the woman’s phone, restricting her from getting up off of the couch by standing over her. He also allegedly grabbed her phone and threw it, breaking a window, and in order to escape she had to allegedly slap him. When she tried to regain control of her phone, he wouldn’t give it back and she fled to a neighbor’s house to call police.

That case had been pending in county Municipal Court since then and on June 18 this year, a bench warrant was issued for his arrest, with the bond reset to $25,000 cash or surety after his original bond was revoked because he allegedly violated the terms.

On June 24, the victim in that case came to the police station in Columbiana to report receiving multiple unwanted phone calls from Elser. The police affidavit noted that “the victim states that in these messages the defendanat threatened to kill her, her family members, and the judge and prosecutor of his case.” At that time, one count of misdemeanor telecommunications harassment was filed.

Since then, both McNicol and county Municipal Court Judge Kelly Linger both recused themselves from the case, along with the county Prosecutor’s Office due to a conflict. Retired Carroll County Judge John Campell was assigned by the Ohio Supreme Court as visiting judge for the cases in Municipal Court and attorney Edward Czopur was assigned as special prosecutor, both for Municipal Court and now Common Pleas Court.

County Prosecutor Vito Abruzzino wouldn’t comment on the case, but did confirm that Elser previously worked as a police officer for the East Palestine Police Department and briefly with the Perry Township Police Department.

Czopur when contacted said there were five different victims in the case in Common Pleas Court. He explained the retaliation charge can involve a public official or person involved in a proceeding and can also involve physical assault or a threat of physical assault. The victim involved can be carrying out their duties.

The indictment said Elser “did, purposely and by force or by unlawful threat of harm to any person or property, retaliate against the victim of a crime because the victim filed or prosecuted criminal charges.”

The intimidation charge alleged that by threat of harm, Elser attempted to “influence, intimidate, or hinder a public servant, party official, or witness in the discharge of the person’s duty.” The wording for the charge of intimidation of an attorney, victim or witness in a criminal case was similar to the intimidation charge.

Most of the charges stem from June 24, although there were two charges from June 25 and the one from Oct. 10. Besides allegedly knowingly causing McNicol to believe he would be harmed, Elser also allegedly knowingly caused the Columbiana County Prosecutor’s Office to believe he would cause harm to the county Prosecutor’s Office or property of the county Prosecutor’s Office. He also allegedly threatened the victim from the first case and two others.

Czopur said the third-degree felonies all carry possible penalties of up to 36 months in prison, with a maximum 180-day possible sentence for the first-degree misdemeanors.

With the cases now combined into one case in Common Pleas Court, it’s likely the cases in Municipal Court will be dismissed. They were scheduled for a pretrial on Aug. 6.

mgreier@mojonews.com