BOWLING GREEN — Rossford Middle School teacher Todd Eckel saw his dreams slipping away Dec. 1, 2014 — the day police found marijuana on his Jeep, handcuffed him, and put him in the back of a police car in the school parking lot.

Mr. Eckel, 44, testified Wednesday in Wood County Common Pleas Court that while he immediately believed someone had planted the drugs on his vehicle, he also knew he could lose his job, lose his freedom, lose the opportunity to coach his young son.

“I was frightened out of my mind,” Mr. Eckel said, recalling the nine hours he spent at the Rossford Police Department the day of his arrest.

Mr. Eckel said he also believed the only person who would want to frame him was his girlfriend’s estranged husband, Todd Long. He said he began to fear for his safety and the safety of his two young children.

A few days later, Rossford police dropped the charges against Mr. Eckel, and he was reinstated to his job as a physical education teacher.

A Wood County grand jury would later indict Mr. Long, 42, of Perrysburg on three counts of kidnapping, two counts of extortion, and one count each of trafficking in marijuana and tampering with evidence.

As his trial before Judge Reeve Kelsey got under way Wednesday, it quickly became clear that the trial’s focus was not on what Mr. Long allegedly did, but on whether his conduct constituted kidnapping and the other felony offenses he’s facing.

Defense attorney Stevin Groth told the court in his opening statement that his client was essentially taking responsibility for what he did.

“The facts are not in dispute, but in fact, the charges are in dispute,” Mr. Groth said. “... For the state to prevail here, I believe this court would have to accept that the state is fitting square pegs into a round hole.

“The evidence will show this was a love triangle, not the Lindbergh kidnapping,” Mr. Groth said.

Thomas Matuszak, chief assistant county prosecutor, maintained the evidence would show Mr. Long was guilty as charged, that he “framed an innocent man and he did so for all the wrong reasons using all the wrong resources.”

Among those who took the stand was Christopher Simonds, who initially was indicted on two counts of extortion for his role in the alleged scheme.

The charges were dismissed last year with the agreement that Mr. Simonds would truthfully testify at Mr. Long’s trial.

He told the court he knew Mr. Long from the Wood County Sheriff’s Auxiliary where both were officers. Both had gone through breakups of their marriages at the same time, he said, and Mr. Long had told him his wife was seeing Mr. Eckel and that he would do anything in his power “to make him go away.”

Mr. Long also told him of his plan to plant marijuana on Mr. Eckel’s vehicle, and Mr. Simonds admitted he placed a call to Rossford police Dec. 1, 2014, at Mr. Long’s request falsely reporting he had been approached by a man in a green Jeep trying to sell him marijuana at the Stop ’n’ Go in Rossford.

The call led to the search of Mr. Eckel’s green Jeep and, eventually, to Mr. Simonds telling Rossford police what he knew about Mr. Long’s plan.

Contact Jennifer Feehan at: jfeehan@theblade.com or 419-213-2134.

First Published August 11, 2016, 4:00 a.m.