A Warsaw woman has recently filed a lawsuit against members of local police departments after being arrested and jailed on what she claims were false charges.

According to the suit, at approximately 4 p.m. on June 20, 2012, Denise Auer visited the Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Department to deliver her minor children to the care and custody of her former husband, Jeffery Marshall, the brother of Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Department Deputy James Marshall.

According to court records, June 20 was not only the date of Auer’s arrest, but also the day of a court hearing between Auer and her ex-husband regarding the custody of their children. Following Marshall’s filing of his intent to move to North Carolina on May 21, 2012, Auer and Marshall were in court June 20 to discuss a summer vacation schedule in terms of the parenting time agreement.

After arriving at the KCSD lobby to drop off her children, Auer said she was “maliciously, unlawfully and without any just or probable cause, charged with the crime of disorderly conduct by officer Allen Danko of the Warsaw Police Department and her former brother-in-law, James Marshall. According to the incident report filed by Officer Danko, Auer was arrested for “not being quiet after being told to do so.”

Auer said she was handcuffed in front of those in the lobby and led to the Kosciusko County Jail where she was then fingerprinted, photographed and given a $300 bond.

According to Auer’s claim, on Aug. 20, 2012, Auer appeared before Superior Court II Judge James C. Jarrette as a defendant and pleaded not guilty to the charge of disorderly conduct. On June 18, 2013, Auer’s charges were dismissed and her bond refunded to her.

Though the charges were dismissed, Auer’s claim said she was injured emotionally as a result of the incident. Auer also said in her claim she was subjected to “humiliation, embarrassment and scorn” among those who know her as a result of the incident. In addition, she was forced to expend sums of money for counsel to procure the dismissal of her charge.

“Mrs. Auer claims that she was unlawfully arrested and detained for the charge of disturbing the peace,” stated David Kolbe, acting attorney for Auer. “I’m of the opinion that under the rule of the law police should be held to the highest standards of behavior and we believe that those standards were not met here. We have on video tape the whole incident and it is my opinion, and I think it would be that of a jury, that Mrs. Auer did not disturb the peace at all. The abuse of police power for a personal legal matter, that is the essence of the claim.”

The defendants of the claim include Allen Danko, James Marshall, Kosciusko County Commissioners, Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Department and the Warsaw Police Department.