TOLEDO — Most of the charges against a Toledo firefighter accused of handcuffing a fellow firefighter and refusing to free him have been dropped, after Kenasia Guilford pleaded no contest on Tuesday, Oct. 20, to a single reduced charge of aggravated trespassing, according to reports by 13 Action News and WTOL 11.
Guilford, 33, a Toledo Fire and Rescue firefighter and licensed emergency medical technician, was originally charged with four felonies — abduction, theft of a motor vehicle, theft and burglary — after police alleged she restrained a colleague, took his phone and vehicle, and later entered his home. Prosecutors dropped four charges in connection with Tuesday’s plea, leaving the reduced trespassing charge.
According to court records and police accounts reported when the case was filed, the events began Sept. 22 at a home in the 3600 block of Garrison in West Toledo. Police affidavits say Guilford handcuffed the man — a fellow firefighter who is a captain in the department, and with whom she had been in a relationship — to a staircase with his consent, but later refused to remove the handcuffs.
Authorities alleged the man became concerned for his safety, eventually broke free while still handcuffed, and went to a friend’s home around 4 a.m., where the friend called 911. Police later had to cut the restraints off. Investigators also alleged Guilford took the man’s cellphone, car keys and house keys, took his vehicle and left it at another location, and used a house key to enter his home, where officers later found her in an upstairs bedroom.
Guilford’s attorney, Richard Mitchell, told the court at an earlier appearance that the incidents stemmed from a personal relationship and information Guilford had learned that caused her substantial concern, and he noted she had no prior criminal record. The original charges were allegations, and Tuesday’s plea resolves the bulk of the case on the single reduced count.
Aggravated trespassing under Ohio law is a first-degree misdemeanor. The reports Tuesday did not include a sentence, and Toledo Fire and Rescue had previously confirmed the alleged victim’s role in the department while declining to comment in detail on Guilford’s employment status; she had also been placed on administrative leave from a second job as a registered nurse at the Lucas County Jail when the charges were filed.
For Toledo residents, the case drew wide attention because both firefighters serve in the same department that answers the city’s fire and medical emergencies. With four of the original charges now dropped and the plea entered, the remaining court proceedings on the trespassing count will determine what penalty, if any, Guilford faces.