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YOUNGSTOWN -- A former Warren G. Harding High School basketball star of the 1980s has filed a civil lawsuit in U.S. Court for the Northern Ohio District against two northeast Ohio counties' child support enforcement agencies for wrongful prosecution.
Ian L. Folmar Sr., 51, is charging both the Stark County and Trumbull County child support enforcement agencies with civil rights infractions for misusing his Social Security numbers in an alleged case where he was charged as a "deadbeat father."
A DNA test proved otherwise, according to a handwritten filing by Folmar with the federal court in Youngstown.
In the lawsuit, Folmar has charged the CSEAs and a state agency with curtailing his potential earnings from both his sports and military careers. Folmar put the amount as high as seven figures. He is asking for a jury trial.
After a fine career at Warren G. Harding, a June 1997 Sports Illustrated story stated Folmar failed to qualify academically to play Division I basketball and later spent three-and-a-half years in the Navy as a welder.
In the mid 1990s, Folmar walked on at Division II Slippery Rock College near Grove City, Pa., where he averaged 19.9 points and 8.6 rebounds during the 1996-97 season. At the time, Folmar was 27 and stood 6-foot-5 tall and carried 270 pounds. The SI story stated NBA scouts were watching him at the time.
Folmar's legal problems began, however, and ended any chance of Folmar being drafted by the pros or continuing his military service, according to the lawsuit.
"ACT college exam scores didn't stop Ian's sports career, wrongful lawsuits (by the CSEAs) did," Folmar wrote in an email about the interventions into his life that he said were "costly and untimely."
Folmar's federal lawsuit, filed Nov. 23, has been assigned to U.S. Magistrate Judge Amanda Knapp who works in the courtroom of U.S. Judge Benita Y. Pearson. The court has not yet scheduled any hearings.
The defendants, also including the Ohio Human Resources Department, have not answered the lawsuit after being notified by the defendant.
Folmar, who also asked in writing for the judge to assign an attorney for his case, said he will not say anything else until after the federal case is settled.
According to Common Pleas Court records, Folmar filed a $25,000 defamation lawsuit against his ex-wife charging her with making a false Warren police report on Aug. 2, 2010, regarding telephone harassment that began on July 25 of that year. That case was dismissed, however, because of the lack of prosecution against Folmar, a Trumbull County judge ruled in August 2011.
Court records show that Folmar was involved in two dissolution cases in 2008 and 2011, both without children.
Trumbull County assistant Prosecutor Bill Danso, who represents the county's agencies in civil cases, said he didn't receive notification about Folmar's lawsuit. In these cases, however, Danso said he will submit the action to the county's insurance company to get an opinion from its attorneys about whether to settle or to fight the case.