Willoughby Municipal Court

I have no prior criminal history. July/august of 2013 I received a seatbelt violation. At the time I was experiencing financial problems after having been recently divorced. I was unable to pay the seatbelt ticket within whatever the period of time is that they give you. Approx. 1 month later, while making a late night milk run, I was pulled over and ARRESTED due to an arrest warrant the judge issued for the unpaid seatbelt ticket. Unbelievable.

Please note that I also had a clean driving history and again, have NEVER been in any trouble with the law.

For the first time in my 49 years on earth, I had to spend the night in Jail. The judge subsequently fined me $400 for "court costs" and my night in jail. I had no money to post bail, no family in the Cleveland area, no friends to call that late at night.

The $400 was an added expense that I could not afford and it along with being jailed, broke me emotionally. I had trouble performing at work since and ended up losing my $50k + per year job of 15 years. I will never be able to find a job like I had that paid what it did, again. I'm currently drawing unemployment but I have paid the $400 fine after having had to cash out my retirement 401k.

I give 1 star to the judge that issued a warrant for my arrest . I think you need to look deeper at individual cases before you make stupid decisions as you did with mine.

I give 5 stars to both the Willoughby and Eastlake police officers that had to arrest me and take me to jail that night. I knew you guys felt bad for having to do it but you guys had to do it due to the judges order. Thank you to all officers involved for treating me kindly and respectably. You are true professionals.