STEUBENVILLE — Annette Stewart, the former Jefferson County Health District assistant administrator who last year was tried and acquitted of theft in office and other charges, has filed suit against her former boss, county officials and a co-worker.

Stewart’s suit, filed in Jefferson County Common Pleas Court, accuses county officials of wrongfully prosecuting her and is seeking unspecified damages for mental anguish and distress. Named as defendants are Terry Bell, now a member of the board of health; the Jefferson County Health Department; the Jefferson County commissioners; Tom Gentile, a former Jefferson County commissioner; and Nicole Balakos, a former health district administrator.

Stewart was indicted after the health board asked the state auditor’s office to do a forensic audit of their books amid concerns about internal spending practices. At the time, Bell had said members were concerned that administrators didn’t have the answers to questions concerning spending, which allegedly included contracts that weren’t signed and bills being paid without the health board’s approval. The case went to trial in September 2022, with attorneys from the Ohio attorney general’s office serving as special prosecutors, arguing Stewart doctored the minutes of an April 25, 2017, board of health meeting to give herself a promotion and a $12-an-hour pay raise, telling the jury one of the two men she said authorized the pay increase died before trial, and the other was not able to testify due to cognitive decline.

Stewart, however, told the jury it was her bosses — the late Dr. Frank L. Petrola, longtime chairman of the board, and Dr. Frank J. Petrola, a former health board member who died on July 1 of this year — who told her to amend the minutes to say she’d been awarded the pay raise.

The jury deliberated a little more than two hours before finding her not guilty.

In her suit, Stewart contends she was “falsely charged and maliciously prosecuted without sufficient probable cause” and maintains the allegations against her were “false, contrived, damaging and/or illegally politically motivated.”

Stewart contends she was targeted because “would not follow (directions) to injure other public servants in Jefferson County and/or do what she was told, no questions asked.”

“…The defendants knew and/or should have known that the charges filed against (her) either lacked probable cause from the inception of the case and/or knew that the charges against (her) lacked probable cause. Either way, the defendants … kept pursuing the criminal charges and actions against the plaintiff after they realized the charges were improper,” the suit suggests.

Specifically, Stewart claims Gentile, then a commissioner, told her, “If she did what she was told she would not have to fear losing her job,” and said Bell restricted her e-mail and Internet access “without provocation or good cause,” leaving her unable to carry out the duties of her job.

She also claims that on one occasion Bell “forcefully locked elbows” with her.

Attorneys for the defendants could not be reached for comment on Friday.