Tommy Christmas

YOUNGSTOWN — Tommy Christmas and his crew at Christmas Automotive Repair in Boardman spent several seasons in 2014 and 2015 on reality TV with their “Fat N’ Furious Rolling Thunder” television show.

The show introduced the world to a Youngstown-area business that fixes muscle cars, gets them “back on track” and racing “faster than ever,” according to the intro of the series.

As reported in the Vindicator in 2014, after the first season, people in the Mahoning Valley started coming up to Christmas and saying, “Hey, you’re that guy on television.” The Vindicator attended a car show at the Boardman Quaker Steak and Lube in July 2014 and photographed Christmas and his crew interacting with fans.

The show ended around 2015. But only speculation exists on the internet about why the show did not continue.

Tommy Christmas’ stepdaughter, Jessica Shobel, who appeared in the show, filed a lawsuit in 2022 and other documents in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court that allege Tommy Christmas, of Boardman, “began to have inappropriate sexual contact” with Shobel around 2003 when she was 7 or 8 years old. The conduct progressed from there, the document states.

Christmas’ response filing to the initial lawsuit denied the allegations of sexual abuse contained in the lawsuit, which sought financial damages against Christmas of more than $125,000 for childhood sexual abuse and intentional infliction of emotional distress, pain and suffering.

The response also alleged that Shobel’s claims “are brought in bad faith in an attempt to damage” Christmas.

Shobel said Wednesday she filed a complaint against Christmas with the Boardman Police Department in 2015. She said that complaint is the reason the Discovery Channel declined to renew the show after 2015.

Christmas was married to Shobel’s mother, the lawsuit states.

The Vindicator obtained a copy of the Boardman police report Shobel filed. It states that three people went to the police station Sept. 29, 2015. The report states that one of the three said that when she was 13, (name blacked out) asked her to do certain sexual things and did certain sexual things in her presence.

She said she attempted suicide Sept. 16, 2015, “because of emotions of being sexually assaulted by her stepfather.” The report stated that the girl’s mother had been married to the girl’s stepfather from 2000 to 2014.

THE LAWSUIT

The lawsuit states that at about 11 or 12 years old, Christmas would give her instructions on how to do certain sexual things, and he would engage in other sexual conduct in her presence.

His conduct continued up to and through the time Shobel reached the age of 18, the suit alleges. Christmas’ “acts constitute childhood sexual abuse as defined by, and in violation of,” certain Ohio laws, the suit alleges.

A later filing by Shobel’s attorney stated that Shobel contacted the Boardman police in late 2015 after she had gone to college, and the police department investigated her allegations. The document states that after Shobel reported the issues to police, Christmas “contacted Ms. Shobel to apologize for the abuse and to ask her not to pursue charges against him,” the filing states. The conversation was witnessed by Lisa Weimer, the Feb. 12, 2024 filing states.

No charges apparently have ever been filed against Christmas as a result of the allegations.

But the civil suit went to a jury trial Tuesday before Magistrate Dennis Sarisky, who works for Mahoning County Common Pleas Court Judge Maureen Sweeney. The trial lasted one day, during which Shobel’s attorney, Kevin Daley, presented two witnesses, Shobel and Weimer. The defense did not present any witnesses.

At the end of the trial, Daley made an oral motion for a “directed verdict,” which is when a trial judge or magistrate determines that “there is no legally sufficient evidentiary basis for a reasonable jury to reach a different conclusion,” according to the online Cornell Law School Legal Information Institute.

“After consideration of rules and other statutory framing of this complaint, the motion for directed verdict is granted,” Sarisky said. “Judgment for the plaintiff in that regard. As far as the amounts are concerned, the court will rule to make a determination based upon the testimony that was presented by judgment and by decision to be submitted by the end of this week,” Sarisky said.

He then dismissed the jury that heard the evidence on Tuesday without the jury having to render a verdict. Damages is the amount of money that will be awarded to Shobel as a result of the allegations.

Shobel is the plaintiff. Christmas, who was in the courtroom with his attorneys for the brief hearing with Sarisky Wednesday, is the defendant.

The Vindicator contacted the law office of Matthew Giannini on Wednesday seeking comment on the ruling by Sarisky. The Vindicator did not hear back.

After Sarisky’s ruling from the bench, The Vindicator spoke with Shobel, who said, “We fought for this for a really long time, and there were a lot of battles we faced going through this case. We fought really hard, and we didn’t give up. I had a lot of people behind me.”

She said the decision of the magistrate “is not justice, but it’s at least some accountability.”

When asked about the damage the news of her case will do to Tommy Christmas’ reputation, she said, “I’m not mad that this is going to cause damage to his reputation. There are a lot of people in the community who know exactly who he is. This is just holding up a mirror to him and letting people know that he is not the person they thought that he was.”

She said she was 17 or 18 years old when the “Fat N’ Furious” episodes were being filmed and when she reported the abuse to Boardman police.

Daley explained that even though Shobel’s lawsuit cited certain criminal statutes that the lawsuit alleges Christmas “would have violated,” the civil suit does not involve the potential for Christmas to go to jail or prison.