Politics & Government

Dormont Manager Attorney: Trespass Charge 'Utterly Ridiculous'

Rizza Attorney: Buck stops with Rizza, citations to be appealed.

UPDATES with clarification that administrative leave was directed by council, not the assistant manager.

An attorney for ’s manager, who was cited last month for defiant trespass for entering the police department through a non-civilian entrance, called the charge “completely and utterly ridiculous.”

Phil DiLucente said Thursday that Gino Rizza would appeal the summary trespass citation and the parking ticket that preceded Rizza’s going in to the police department on May 19.

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Rizza, as borough manager, has authority given by council over all aspects of the borough, DiLucente said.

“He can go onto any of the property any time he chooses,” DiLucente said. “He’s not another employee. The buck stops with him.”

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DiLucente said he’s represented both police and municipalities.

“I know both sides of this argument. But the police are not on the right side this time,” he said.

“The courts have interpreted (municipalities) are in control … because taxpayer money is being used,” he said.

Ross said Friday afternoon that police first checked with District Justice Blaise Larotonda and the district attorney's office before filing the trespassing charge and were told it was appropriate.

“We wanted to make sure we were doing the right thing," Ross said.

“Even though Dormont’s small, this has larger consequences in that you could have a totalitarian state when police decide to make up rules as they go along,” he said.

Rizza was issued a ticket for parking in a spot reserved for LifeSpan, an agency serving senior citizens that rents building and parking space at the municipal center.

Sgt. Phil Ross said someone notified police about a vehicle parked in a LifeSpan spot.

It apparently was not anyone with LifeSpan; Cynthia Kostelnik, manager at LifeSpan, said she was on vacation when the ticket was issued, but doubted that anyone with LifeSpan would have called the police.

Rizza said there were no other spots available and only intended to park there briefly and move when a spot became available. He said he paid the $15 parking ticket.

Ross, whom council from chief earlier this year, said Rizza had been told—verbally and in email—that he was not to enter the department through the non-civilian entrance. The inner-building door connects the police department to administrative areas. It's accessed via an electronic key fob, which Rizza has. Ross said other borough employes wait for an officer to enter, but not Rizza.

Ross said the area Rizza walked through contains sensitive police documents and file cabinets and also a juvenile holding cell.

Ross denied that the citation and ticket were in retaliation for his demotion, which he is .

Sgt. Jim Burke, who issued the trespassing citation to Rizza, was placed on paid administrative leave for an unspecified amount of time Thursday afternoon by Assistant Borough Manager Ian McMeans, Ross said Friday.

However, Mayor Tom Lloyd said he reinstated him.

Asked if he had that power, Lloyd said, "I think I have more power to reinstate than the assistant manager had to suspend him."

Placing Burke on administrative leave was authorized by council.

Ross said Burke was on his regular day off Friday.

Ross said placing Burke on leave interfered with police duty.

"They have put the officers in the position where it could raise the concern that if they arrest the wrong people, they could be put on administrative leave, which directly interferes with our job," he said.

Rizza, in a statement issued on borough letterhead Thursday, suggested the trespassing citation was retaliatory.

"This is an attempt to use criminal charges to intimidate the borough administration and it is an affront to every citizen in the borough of Dormont," the statement said.

"This unfortunate incident is an example of what the borough council and administration have been trying to change: a police department that sees itself as unanswerable to the elected borough council and officers who are willing to go so far as to file inappropriate criminal charges to keep it that way," the statement said.

Ross called that assertion ridiculous.

"They are the ones who feel they don’t have to answer to anybody. And they didn’t learn that lesson in the primaries," he said. "Everyday we work, we answer to somebody—and that’s the taxpayers in this community."


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