Last November, Mezzacappa was convicted by Judge Yetter of disorderly conduct and fined $200. That charge followed a Boro Hall tirade in which two witnesses testified she had threatened to drown Kelly Gross.
Mezzacappa actually had two hearings today for harassment. Two private prosecutions were approved by DA John Morganelli, and scheduled back to back.
The first case involved Matthew Dees, a West Easton resident who was repeatedly impersonated by Mezzacappa. The second involved Jill Garcia, a West Easton Borough Clerk who has been habitually taunted and cursed at by Mezzacappa. While complimenting Dees for an excellent presentation, Yetter found Mezzacappa not guilty on the basis that her online impersonation actually was done to harass others, not him. But Jill Garcia's charges stuck. Garcia was represented by Attorney Christy Schlottman.
Instead of an attorney, Mezzacappa came to court accompanied by Jim Gregory. He was dressed in a storm jacket despite the fact that it was 9000 degrees outside.
The first thing Mezzacappa did was confront me.
"You claim I am armed and dangerous and mentally ill, and here you are," she accused. She made the same accusation to Garcia, who had to be there. The presence of two or three Wilson police officers is a pretty solid indication that others also consider her armed, dangerous and mentally ill.
Mezzacappa tried denying that she is the publisher or author of West Easton Foot Print, forcing Dees to prove it. "I'm just going to sit here and let him go on 'till 7 pm," she said, opening the door to page after page of damaging admissions. Dees introduced blogs in which she discusses her squabbles with West Easton, her pet pig, her candidacy for Borough Council, pig stories, and even blog that included her emails.
"I think he needs a psychologist more than he needs a court, but let him vent," she said at one point.
In addition to her online impersonations, Dees introduced evidence that Mezzacappa had actually called his employer to complain about him, making scurrilous suggestions and calling him "potentially dangerous."
Mezzacappa took feigned offense to Dees' reference to pig stories, referring to her pet as an "ailing, sick, dying pig."
Yetter noted that Pennsylvania recently adopted a law proscribing online impersonation. But Mezzacappa was charged with harassment, which Yetter considered a flaw.
In the second matter, Mezzacappa was less lucky. West Easton Borough Clerk Jill Garcia testified to Mezzacappa's online taunts, as well as remarks made to her at Borough Hall. She recounted threatening and abusive behavior, which included constant kicking and banging at the doors to Borough Hall after being told to wait for a police escort.
"We're afraid of her," she said, telling Judge Yetter about Mezzacappa's fantasies of putting a hollow point bullet through my skull. She also described a bizarre gun video made by Mezzacappa, containing words like "You better outrun my gun" and ending with a coffin and a picture of the West Easton web page.
"That's not what a normal person does," said Garcia. "I really believe she would do these things. She doesn't seem reasonable to me. "
Garcia complained that prospective employers and even her children can see the hateful and hurtful things Mezzacappa has posted about her.
"I just would like it to stop," she told Judge Yetter. "It's relentless. I don't want to come to work now."
I doubt that will happen. All of her hateful comments about Garcia are still on her blog. That's something Judge Yetter may want to consider when Mezzacappa asks for a payment agreement on her fine.
