YOUNGSTOWN — Mahoning County Clerk of Courts Michael P. Ciccone fired Jennifer J. Ciccone, his chief deputy and chief of staff, after a falling out between the two former allies and controversial figures.

The Vindicator first heard of the firing early Friday with Michael Ciccone, a Republican, not responding to requests for comment.

Jennifer J. Ciccone, also a Republican, didn’t respond to requests Friday to comment on her firing.

But in a late Friday post on Facebook, she wrote that she retained legal counsel and would be “releasing a comprehensive statement in the coming days addressing circumstances surrounding my termination. I am confident that the truth will surface and anyone who truly knows me knows that I will not concede to inaccuracies or misrepresentations about my character, my dedication or my work ethic.”

Ryan Kadel, the clerk of courts’ director of operations, sent a prepared statement Friday afternoon reading: “The position of chief deputy and chief of staff serve at the pleasure of the elected clerk of courts. Clerk Michael P. Ciccone has determined that the services of chief deputy and chief of staff Jennifer Ciccone are no longer needed, effective Oct. 17 at 8 a.m. This decision reflects Clerk Michael P. Ciccone’s ongoing commitment to ensuring that the operations of the clerk of courts office continue to serve the best interests of the office and the people of Mahoning County.”

Kadel wrote: “No further comment will be provided.”

Meghan Hanni, the daughter of Republican Mark A. Hanni, a 7th District Court of Appeals judge, is replacing Jennifer J. Ciccone.

In her Facebook post, Jennifer J. Ciccone wrote that Meghan Hanni accompanied Michael P. Ciccone on a “work-related trip after consuming edibles in bed together” and attached text messages between her and her former boss.

The two Ciccones, who are not related, were seen arguing Wednesday at Oakhill Renaissance Place, a county-owned building where the clerk’s title office is located. The argument became so heated that a sheriff’s deputy asked them first to go into the hallway and when that didn’t calm matters, the two were told to leave the building.

Also, Michael P. Ciccone and his wife, Emily A. Ciccone, who filed for divorce Oct. 7, were seen having an argument inside the Mahoning County courthouse Thursday. The court docket shows an interim agreement reached Thursday between the couple in the divorce proceedings. But online records don’t disclose what is in it.

In the text messages posted by Jennifer J. Ciccone between her and Michael P. Ciccone, accusing her former boss of having an “affair” with Hanni and that his wife found out by reading the text messages on his cellphone. Ciccone wrote that his wife “said she was going to Meghan’s house to kill her.” Jennifer J. Ciccone also posted photos of her former boss with his arm around Hanni and his head on her shoulder. There’s other photos of them on a bed together, including one with another woman — all are wearing clothes.

When Jennifer J. Ciccone asked why he would leave his phone around and that Emily A. Ciccone “probably deleted all your (expletive) evidence too,” Michael P. Ciccone said, “I set it down. The bitch grabbed it from me.”

In explaining his marriage, a message from Michael P. Ciccone states, “I’m tired of being treated like an (expletive) (racial epithet).”

He also wrote that he wanted to marry Hanni “and she can continue to work for me and we can live it up.”

Mahoning County Democratic Party Chairman Chris Anderson called for Michael P. Ciccone’s resignation, saying the county Republican Party needs to appoint a successor.

Anderson said: “I’ve sat by and watched the embarrassment that is Mike Ciccone’s tenure as clerk of courts for far too long. It took less than three months for the Dumpster fire that is the Ciccone triplets to undo decades of good work of other officeholders.”

Anderson said he wouldn’t comment on Ciccone’s marriage but “language like this has no place in our society — much less from an elected official. If the accusations in this post are true, and he has appointed a woman as his chief deputy after having an affair with her, using drugs on government time on a government-funded trip (then) every expenditure needs to be immediately scrutinized by (county) Auditor (Ralph) Meacham and if necessary (state) Auditor (Keith Faber) for impropriety.”

Emily A. Ciccone was arrested Sept. 25 on a domestic violence charge over an alleged incident involving her husband following an argument at their South Edgehill Avenue home in Austintown.

The misdemeanor charge was dismissed Tuesday when the prosecutor in the case cited a lack of evidence.

She was initially charged after her husband told police he was sitting on the toilet when his wife threw numerous objects at him, including a coffee mug and a Stanley drinking cup, and one of them struck him on the right leg causing him to bleed, according to the police report. He was treated for injuries to his leg at St. Elizabeth Youngstown Hospital.

Ciccone told police he would need stitches for his injuries and that he wanted to press criminal charges against his wife.

He told police he called Jennifer J. Ciccone to pick him up at his home to “alleviate the current argument,” with his wife becoming “irate” when she heard the conversation, according to the police report.

Jennifer J. Ciccone showed police the broken coffee cup and a blood-stained vacuum cleaner allegedly used to hit Michael Ciccone, the police report states.

The police report said officers responded after Jennifer J. Ciccone called emergency dispatch saying there was a domestic altercation at the Ciccone home and that Emily A. Ciccone “was threatening to kill the male and the children inside of the residence,” according to the report.

Michael P. Ciccone and Jennifer J. Ciccone have been political allies for a few years.

Jennifer J. Ciccone was appointed in late 2023 as Struthers Municipal Court judge — she had won the Republican primary for the seat — by Gov. Mike DeWine right before the general election in a highly unusual move. Ciccone subsequently lost the election by 10.28% and Michael P. Ciccone filed a lawsuit on behalf of 28 of her voters claiming, without any evidence, that there was mass fraud in the election.

A week after filing the lawsuit in the 7th District Court of Appeals, he dropped the case.

Also, a judge in February 2024 dismissed a complaint filed by Michael P. Ciccone against the county board of elections in which he incorrectly claimed he wasn’t permitted to see records related to the outcome of Jennifer J. Ciccone’s failed election.

Michael P. Ciccone hired Jennifer J. Ciccone after his unlikely win in the November 2024 election for clerk of courts in which he reported raising and spending no money.

Her starting salary at the clerk of courts was $120,000 until she received a pay raise April 20 to $156,000, making her one of the highest paid non-elected employees in Mahoning County after less than four months on the job.

In comparison, her predecessor, Kathi McNabb Welsh, who served as chief deputy for 29 years, made $89,045 right before she left the job.

Jennifer J. Ciccone was also disqualified earlier this year from being an attorney in county domestic relations court because of her position and failed to get certified as a Poland Township trustee candidate by the board of elections because she incorrectly identified her township on one of her petitions.

The Ohio Supreme Court’s attorney portal on Friday shows Jennifer J. Ciccone is “not registered” as a lawyer in the state. It isn’t known when that occurred.

She and her law firm were hired last month by the Trumbull County Commissioners at $250 an hour to represent the Trumbull County Clerk of Courts office in the appeal of two cases because

of a conflict of interest with the county prosecutor’s office.