A trip to the store for a bottle of glue turned into 80-year-old Leonard Little’s first time in jail.
The Massillon retiree committed no crime to earn the time. But he was a wanted man for about nine months for his failure to appear in Summit County Common Pleas Court for a hearing in a civil lawsuit.
It was a hearing Judge Paul Gallagher ordered that neither Little nor his attorney say they knew about.
This breakdown in communication prompted the judge last spring to issue an arrest warrant for contempt of court. Once again, according to Little and his attorney, no one told them of the judge’s order.
They only learned of its existence Monday, they said, when the grandfather was booked into the county jail.
“I was humiliated beyond belief,” Little said Tuesday. “I have always tried to do the right thing, and then to wind up in jail? Murderers and rapists got treatment as good or better than I did.”
Gallagher, who signed the arrest warrant April 13, said he cannot discuss the pending case. Nonetheless, on Monday he ordered Little released from the Summit County Jail, about six hours after his booking. When Little left the jail, he said he didn’t sign his $20,000 signature bond nor did he receive a new court date.
Attorney Larry Shenise, who handled the civil lawsuit for Little and his son, William, said no one from Gallagher’s court notified him by mail or a phone call of the March hearing the Littles missed.
No notice, he said, was sent by the court on the subsequent arrest warrants.
“I don’t miss hearings if I get notice,” Shenise said. “If we would have known, we would have been there. But they never bothered to call to say, ‘Hey, you’re supposed to be here for a hearing. We’re going to issue warrants for your clients if you don’t appear.’
“They didn’t do anything,” he said. “I would have thought the court would have the courtesy to say, ‘Hey, you’re supposed to be here.’ ’’
Shenise said it wasn’t until Tuesday that Gallagher set a new hearing date of Feb. 8.
The missed March hearing date along with the arrest warrants are listed on the court’s Internet docket. But because the suit was put on hold with the filing of Little’s bankruptcy in May, Shenise said he had no need to view the case file.
The lawsuit stems from a family business deal that went awry. The attorney opposing Little in the lawsuit did not return a call Tuesday.
Warrant issued
Warrants generally are sent to the sheriff and entered into the law enforcement computer. Those wanted on warrants are not notified.
That apparently was the case with Little. He said he had no idea he was a wanted man for nearly a year. Little and his wife of 60 years, Barbara, on Tuesday recounted the events that led to his jail stint.
Little said he went out early Monday morning to buy glue for a woodworking project. He stopped at a gas station, where he had a collision with another car.
A Massillon officer arrived and checked Little’s driving record. The warrant was found and Little was taken by the officer into Summit County, where deputies met them in Green. Deputies handcuffed Little and took him to jail about 10 a.m.
Little said that during his stay, jailers never gave him his medication for high blood pressure and diabetes. He was fingerprinted, photographed and placed in a cell.
“They booked me like a common criminal,” Little said.
Sheriff’s spokesman Bill Holland said inmates on medication must have their prescriptions and dosage verified. Once that occurs, the jail’s 600-plus inmates are given their meds at the same time two to three times a day. In Little’s case, he came after the first medication distribution and was released before the next rotation, Holland said.
Little, who has no criminal record, remains baffled at how he wound up jailed for a day.
“If I knew I was supposed to have appeared in court, I would have been there,” he said. “I always take my civic duties seriously.”
Phil Trexler can be reached at 330-996-3717 or ptrexler@thebeaconjournal.com.