DEVELOPING: Trisha Roddy, Owner of Power Up Fostoria Threatens FFP With Blackmail
Trisha Roddy, owner of Power Up Fostoria, sent a Facebook message to Fostoria Free Press operator Joshua James demanding that he remove recent coverage and apologize or face personal and professional retaliation. In the messages, Roddy claims Josh’s “insane amount of posting is bordering harassment” and alleges his reporting has harmed her business-even though all angles of the drug raids story in Fostoria has been covered.
She then presents “a few options” — take down the posts and apologize, or she will file a police report, mobilize her thousands of social‑media followers to report his page, hire an attorney for defamation, and publicly circulate unverified accusations that Josh “pays for escorts and other activities” in his private life, telling him, “So, you choose… If I don’t hear back by tonight I’ll assume you are choosing option 3.”
This type of conditional threat – pressuring someone to take down speech under the warning that damaging allegations will be broadcast if they refuse – raises serious concerns about coercion and the chilling of protected First Amendment activity. Josh, who maintains that his reporting relied on publicly supplied information and did not falsely accuse Roddy of a crime, has preserved the messages as evidence and says he is prepared to defend his rights in court if necessary.
Since she made this threat, continuing with Option #2 is now off the table due to FFP now having a counterclaim to alleged blackmail. Option #3 would end up be a payday for The Fostoria Free Press in the tens of thousands of dollars.
