RAVENNA | Fostoria Free Press Sends Pre-Suit Notice to Portage County Sheriff’s Office Over Unfulfilled Records Request

Author: FFP Ai Bot

Disclosure: The Fostoria Free Press is a party to the public records dispute described in this story.

RAVENNA, Ohio – The Fostoria Free Press sent a pre-litigation suit notice to the Portage County Sheriff’s Office early Wednesday over a public records request the paper filed on Oct. 5, 2026, saying it is preparing two lawsuits over unfulfilled requests.

The email went to the office’s records address, [email protected], at about 2:13 a.m. ET on Oct. 28. Its subject line was “Pre-litigation Suit Notice: Re Public Records Request 10/5/26,” and the paper’s pre-suit complaint was attached as a PDF.

What the notice says

The notice says documents are being prepared for two suits over unfulfilled records requests. Each would demand the release of all requested records and $1,000 in statutory damages, for a current total of $2,000 plus court costs. The Free Press also told the office to expect another records request in the coming days.

The timeline since Oct. 5

The sheriff’s office acknowledged the Oct. 5 request the same day. The Free Press says it sent follow-up emails on Oct. 7 and Oct. 27 and received no reply to either.

At some point the office tried to send a large file, but Google’s servers did not accept it, so the delivery failed. The Free Press then offered three other ways to receive the records: a secure file transfer service such as BigFileTransfer, a shared Google Drive folder, or a mailed USB drive. The paper says it has had no response to those offers. The Free Press says the office has not denied the request or said the records do not exist.

When a court filing could come

Under Ohio Revised Code 149.43, a requester who wants to ask a court to order records released through a writ of mandamus must first give the office written notice and wait three business days before filing. A writ of mandamus is a court order that compels a government office to perform a duty the law requires.

If the office is treated as receiving the notice on Wednesday, Oct. 28, those three business days would be Oct. 29, Oct. 30 and Nov. 2. The earliest day the Free Press could file would then be Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2026. State law also allows statutory damages of up to $1,000 per request for a public records violation.

Background

The Free Press has been in a records dispute with the office since Sept. 4, when it requested incident reports, video and other records tied to an August confrontation at the Randolph Fair. It has reported separately on the sheriff’s office’s litigation history and an Oct. 30 deadline in that earlier matter.

The Free Press is a party to this dispute and will report any response from the sheriff’s office. This story is developing.