Judge Dally: Fraud Charges Against W Easton Boro Council Candidate Will Stand

Tricia Mezzacappa is currently a Republican nominee for a seat on West Easton Borough Council. She's been facing criminal charges of defrauding a secured creditor since February. She hid her 2008 RAV4 after it was levied on by the Sheriff in partial satisfaction of judgment I have against her. She then refused to produce it at a Sheriff's Sale, where I bought the car for $1. She still refuses to turn it over, though she was spotted driving it right before the election. Magisterial District Judge Richard Yetter ruled there is sufficient evidence to send the matter for trial. On Friday, Judge Craig Dally denied her motion to quash the information based on a claim of selective prosecution. Her jury trial is scheduled for August 4.

Mezzacappa's public defender, Jim Connell, had argued that in his 36 years as a lawyer, he had never seen "the Commonwealth attempt to collect a debt for a private citizen by using the [defrauding secured creditors statute]." Nor have I. Nor has anyone. And that's not what is happening here. Mezzacappa has been charged criminally because she defied judicial process. Sure, she defrauded me, but she did so by thumbing her nose at court officers. In fact, the evidence in this case will show that, after levy, she lied Deputy Sheriffs when she promised to meet them at the courthouse to pick up her papers. She instead skidaddled. The real victim here is our judicial system. If people can ignore levies and court orders they dislike, our whole system collapses.

As Judge Dally observed, Connell was really arguing that this is a case of selective prosecution. But that's nonsense, too. The only thing selective about this prosecution is that a criminal was selected for prosecution. Last time I checked, that's the way the system is supposed to work. Assistant DA Travis Weber did locate 12 examples of this prosecution in recent years. On th magisterial level, there are probably more because this problem confronts constables frequently.

Mezzacappa, whether she likes it or not, will face the music. Unless she finds religion soon, I suspect she is going to be sent to jail. She seems to think she can pick and choose which orders to follow and which to ignore. For example, at this moment, she has still failed to pay or even make arrangements to pay the $646.88 she owes the Commonwealth as a result of her conviction for harassment of a West Easton Boro Clerk. I can't imagine a judge rewarding someone who thumbs her nose at them with impunity, something she has been doing for years.

The only real question in my mind is whether she will show up for her trial. She has reportedly told a neighbor that she is converting her home in West Easton into an apartment building, and plans to move in with her mother in New Jersey. Thus, i question whether she'll actually show for her trial.