Former Avon fire chief pleads 'no contest' to child porn charges; separate lawsuit alleges sexual abuse (UPDATED)

ELYRIA — Former Avon Fire Chief Frank Root Jr. pleaded no contest Monday to felony child pornography charges in Lorain County Common Pleas Court and is scheduled to be sentenced next month. The charges filed in 2019 were over his possession of a photo depicting his son performing sexual acts that came to light in 2018. A civil suit filed in Common Pleas Court also alleges that Frank Root Jr. forced his son, Frank Root III, to have sex with his own mother and other adult women numerous times in the late 1970s and early 1980s, then publicly lied about it to members of the media and acquaintances. The Chronicle-Telegram typically does not name victims or alleged victims of sexual abuse, but upon consultation with his attorney, Frank Root III gave the newspaper permission to use his name. Frank Root Jr., 81, entered the "no contest" plea to charges of pandering obscenity involving a minor or impaired person and pandering sexually oriented material involving a minor or impaired person, both fourth-degree felonies, before Judge John Miraldi at a pretrial hearing Monday. A "no contest" plea means that Frank Root Jr. does not admit his guilt but does admit the truth of the allegations. It also means he retains some rights to appeal. Frank Root Jr., who was the Avon fire chief from 1990 to 2006 and was succeeded in the job by his son, is scheduled to be sentenced on April 19. A grand jury indicted Frank Root Jr. in December 2019 over an incident that occurred in November 2018, according to court records. The Avon Police Department investigated Frank Root Jr. after a complaint was forwarded to them through the Lorain County Prosecutor's Office in July 2019. He turned himself in to police in October 2019 and was arraigned and released on bond. In other criminal court matters, Frank Root Jr. also is facing a misdemeanor public indecency charge in Avon Lake Municipal Court after a neighbor reported that he was urinating and exposing himself in the daytime on Aug. 29, 2020. He has pleaded not guilty to that charge and remains free on bond. A pretrial hearing in that case is scheduled for March 9. In the civil lawsuit, Frank Root III and his wife, Karyn, alleged that he was forced by his father "through coercion and abuse" to have sex with his mother, Eleanor, who now is deceased. This allegedly happened multiple times in the late 1970s and early 1980s, according to the lawsuit. On the advice of his attorney, Frank Root III declined to comment further on the civil lawsuit Monday. The alleged sexual abuse happened for at least eight years, according to the lawsuit. While in his teens, Frank Root III also was introduced to adult women "to promote their sexual abuse" of him, his lawsuit said. Frank Root III reported that he repressed memories of the abuse until 2018 when, at age 53, his father "had a sexually explicit conversation" with him in which Frank Root Jr. "outrageously boasted about certain aspects of (the victim's) childhood sexual abuse" including the sexual activity between his son and his late wife, the number of times it happened and that Frank Root Jr. "had re-enacted a porn scene with (Frank Root III) while (Frank Root III) was still a minor, in which they both had sexual intercourse with (Frank Root III's mother) at the same time." According to the lawsuit, Frank Root III said he and Frank Root Jr. had the second of two sexually explicit conversations in November 2018 when Frank Root Jr. gave his son "a picture of (him) as a young teenager having sex with (Frank Root III's) mother and again outrageously boasted about aspects of (Frank Root III's) childhood sexual abuse." Those included that Frank Root Jr. had allegedly "gotten 'excited looking for the photographs' the day before"; described his son's teenage body and genitals; that Frank Root Jr. had asked his son to have sex with his father's adult girlfriend when Frank Root III still was a teen; and that the photograph "was a hell of a shot," according to the lawsuit. Frank Root III ceased contact with his father following the conversations and sought mental health treatment, according to their lawsuit. The incidents and photograph were then reported to Avon police, and Frank Root III alleges that his father "falsely claimed" to police that it was him and not his son in the photograph. The lawsuit also accuses Frank Root Jr. of lying to others about the allegations, including members of the media; that he claimed his son "wanted" to have a sexual relationship with his mother; and Frank Root III filed the child pornography charges out of spite or retaliation for being cut out of his father's will. Frank Root Jr. also allegedly told a member of the Cleveland TV news media in the fall of 2019 that his son was "a willing participant in his childhood sexual abuse" and repeated the claim about the will. The lawsuit alleges Frank Root Jr. also made false statements about his son to customers and a vendor at the bars he owns — The Maple Inn and Frank & Ellie's Place — and that he claimed his son had committed perjury in court and lied to police. The lawsuit seeks more than $25,000 in damages from Frank Root Jr. for causes including intentional infliction of emotional distress, invasion of privacy and slander. Frank Root III "experienced great humiliation, mental anguish, anxiety and shame in addition to that he suffers as a survivor of childhood sexual abuse which continues now and into the future," the lawsuit alleges. Messages seeking comment on the lawsuit were left for an attorney listed for Frank Root Jr. in court records. Contact Dave O'Brien at (440) 329-7129 or dobrien@chroniclet.com. Follow him at @daveobrienCT on Twitter.