Associated Press
LISBON
A lawsuit has been filed against the East Palestine publisher of “Hard Times” claiming the publication printed a likeness of Brian Bees of Austintown and falsely listed him as a habitual sexual offender last February.
“Hard Times” collects mug shots from local sheriff’s departments, including in Youngstown, where the circulation is reportedly about 15,000 per week.
According to the civil case filed this week in Columbiana County Common Pleas Court, Jason Trosky of East Palestine is responsible for the publication of the “Hard Times” in the Youngstown area. The lawsuit claims the likeness of Bees reportedly ran on Feb. 1, 2012, with the habitual sexual offender label. However, the lawsuit notes Bees has never been convicted of any sexual-related crimes.
The only conviction listed on the Mahoning County courts’ website in 2012 for Brian Bees Jr. of Austintown was for a drug abuse instruments charge. Court documents there show he was fined $250 on the charge. He also had a driving-under-suspension penalty for failure to appear in court last February.
Bees is seeking more than $25,000 for what he alleges are defamation and invasion of privacy. He claims that since his appearance in “Hard Times,” he has lost his reputation and suffered damage in his occupation.
Two phone calls to Trosky were not answered. Bees’ attorney from the Rhys Brendan Cartwright-Jones firm in Youngstown declined to speak about the case on the record.
Comments
I'd like to see him get an even bigger settlement and give 'Hard Times" the hard times it deserves by putting them out of business.
I look at this so-called newspaper sometimes at places I buy gas, and think, Oh God have we descended to this!
Worried your mug shot is going to publicized Kurt?
I buy the Hard Times immediately after it comes out every time.
he merely republishes what is provided by the Mahoning County Sheriff's office
All of it is publicly available.
I'm sure if the wrong image was appeared. The data came incorrectly from the sheriff's office and he bears no responsibility for republishing it.
SUE THE SHERIFF OFICE
Local drama pusher Hard Times I think will more than likely lose Mahoning County. I don't really like it Because if you have Parole or Probation Violation they print the story as if you got caught doing it again rather than printing that you violated Parole or Probation. They make mistakes all the time and never post anything saying they were wrong and if you are vindicated of the crime they don't publish that. All they care about is getting pictures of people in there to keep sales high. Other than that the man that runs the web sight on Face Book is rude and always adds his two cents and they never retract when they know they printed something in error.