Former police officer who threatened court officials placed on community control

Ordered to serve up to six months at a community-based corrections facility

LISBON -- A former police officer who threatened a judge, prosecutor and three others apologized before being placed under community control and ordered to serve up to six months at a community-based corrections facility.

"I'm ashamed and embarrassed of my actions and very sorry for all those affected," Matthew R. Elser said during sentencing Wednesday in Columbiana County Common Pleas Court.

Elser, 45, Market Street, Columbiana, appeared in the custody of a deputy sheriff and was accompanied by his appointed defense attorney, Rhys Cartwright-Jones.

"I have no doubt you appreciate the impact your actions had on the victims in this case," Judge Edward Emmett O'Farrell said.

A retired Tuscarawas County Common Pleas Court judge, O'Farrell was appointed as visiting judge for the case after the Columbiana County judges recused themselves. The state was represented by Special Prosecutor Edward A. Czopur, an attorney from Boardman who was assigned to the case after the county prosecutor's office was recused due to a conflict.

Elser entered a guilty plea last month as part of a negotiated joint plea agreement to two counts of intimidation and four counts of retaliation, all third-degree felonies, and single counts of aggravated menacing and unlawful restraint, both misdemeanors, for a total of eight counts. As part of the deal, five counts of telecommunications harassment and four counts of aggravated menacing, all misdemeanors, were dismissed.

Both Czopur and Cartwright-Jones said because the sentence was agreed upon by both sides as part of the plea agreement, there can be no appeal.

The sentence issued by O'Farrell included 36 months overall, but was placed in reserve with no prison time. Instead, Elser was placed under five years supervised community control, the maximum possible, with a residential sanction of up to six months until the program is successfully completed at the Eastern Ohio Correction Center in Wintersville and then a non-residential sanction of supervision by the Adult Probation Department. He received credit for 378 days already served in the county jail and at Heartland Behavioral Healthcare in Massillon.

O'Farrell also told Elser that he's not allowed to have contact of any kind with any of the victims.

Czopur explained that if Elser violates any of the terms of his community control, commonly known as probation, the remaining 18 months of the sentence are still hanging over his head and could be imposed as prison time.

"I'm just glad that we could reach a resolution that protects the victims moving forward and addresses the defendant's mental health concerns," Czopur said.

The sentence includes a requirement for successful completion of mental health or substance abuse counseling or treatment. Elser is prohibited from alcohol consumption, prohibited from entering bars or places where the principal business is serving alcohol, is barred from having a weapon and must undergo random drug testing.

None of the victims were in the courtroom for the sentencing, but Czopur said they were aware of the sentencing date. He said the agreement that was reached was done in consultation with the victims. The judge said he read the victim impact statements and considered them, along with all the other information in the case.

While talking briefly about what happened, Czopur said, "Mr. Elser's actions created a substantial amount of alarm," noting there were death threats against numerous people, creating serious alarm among law enforcement.

According to the indictment, the unlawful restraint charge dated back to Oct. 10, 2024 when Elser restrained a woman of her liberty at a house in Columbiana. He was charged with the unlawful restraint in county Municipal Court and while that case was pending, on June 24, 2025, the victim in the case came to the police station in Columbiana to report receiving multiple unwanted phone calls from Elser.

The police affidavit noted that "the victim states that in these messages the defendant threatened to kill her, her family members, and the judge and prosecutor of his case." At that time, one count of misdemeanor telecommunications harassment was filed. The judge in question was county Municipal Court Judge Tim McNicol. The indictment was served on Elser in July 2025 with those charges plus additional charges. All the charges in the plea, with the exception of the unlawful restraint, stemmed from June 24, 2025 when the threats were made.

During the plea hearing in June, Czopur said it was important to get a conviction related to each of the victims.

At the sentencing, he said he was encouraged that Elser had gone through some mental health treatment already.

In October, Elser had been ordered hospitalized at Heartland Behavioral Healthcare after O'Farrell found he was not competent to stand trial, noting that he was not capable of understanding the nature and objective of the legal proceedings against him and not capable of assisting in his defense of the criminal charges.

At that time, O'Farrell also found a reasonable probability that the defendant could be restored to competency to stand trial within the six-month time period allow by law. In March, Elser was found competent, but then was ordered evaluated for sanity. He was found sane and entered the guilty pleas.

Cartwright-Jones talked about the evolution of his client from the man seen a year ago to now, describing him as "calm and collected." Previously, he said he was like a "downed power line," couldn't sit still or articulate anything.

"The conversion has been miraculous," he said, adding that Elser "expressed remorse and accepted responsibility." He was also looking into some educational opportunities.

O'Farrell wished Elser good luck and told him that his hope is that he's going to be a model citizen.

At the end of the hearing, he also complimented both Czopur and Cartwright-Jones on the excellent job they did of representation, with Czopur for the victims and Cartwright-Jones for the defendant, saying "if I had this kind of representation in other cases, it would be a cakewalk."

Elser previously worked as a police officer for the East Palestine Police Department and briefly with the Perry Township Police Department.