Politics & Government

Dormont Manager Cited For Trespassing At Police Station

Gino Rizza was cited after repeated warnings not to use a non-civilian entrance to the police station, said Sgt. Phil Ross.

UPDATED with comment from Rizza.

Dormont Manager Gino Rizza was cited for defiant trespass after entering the borough police department through a non-civilian entrance last month to complain about a parking ticket.

Rizza and Assistant Manager Ian McMeans had been warned several times not to use the entrance, Sgt. Phil Ross said Thursday.

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“This has been going on for several months,” he said.

Ross, whom Rizza asked council to demote from chief earlier this year, said the area Rizza walked through contains sensitive police documents and file cabinets and also a juvenile holding cell.

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Ross is the demotion.

Ross said he warned Rizza verbally several times against using the entrance and to contact police for entry.

“He ignored that on other occasions. He did it again. I warned him by email not to,” Ross said.

A statement from Rizza and McMeans said the charges were inappropriate and an attempt to "intimidate" the administration. The statement said the borough owns the building and the borough manager has legitimate access.

Ross said Rizza was ticketed on May 19 for parking his truck in a spot designated for LifeSpan, an organization providing services to senior citizens that leases part of the municipal building and parking spaces.

“He came down here right into the squad room,” Ross said.

“What he did was, he violated the law and he was cited, like any unsworn person without authorization would be cited for the same thing,” Ross said.

The charge is a summary offense.

“His truck was there. Someone complained about it, he was cited,” Ross said.

Ross did not write the ticket or citation.

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 about someone parking in a LifeSpan spot. Nor was she aware of any with LifeSpan ever having called the police about parking.

Ross said a ticket was issued instead of a warning because the police can’t engage in selective enforcement.

Rizza said there were no other spots available in the borough lot around 8:30 a.m. and only intended to park there briefly and move when a spot became available. He said he paid the $15 ticket and is appealing the trespassing citation.

The statement:

Recently a Police Officer employed by the Borough of Dormont filed criminal trespassing charges against the Borough Manager, Gino Rizza. The charges are inappropriate and the process will show that.

The charges stem from the position taken by the police employees that only the police officers can have physical access to the Borough’s Police department. This position is contrary to the law and the police officers had previously been made aware of that fact.

The Borough owns the Municipal building where the Borough’s Police Department is located and it is entirely legitimate for the Borough Manager to have access to it. 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.

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 Police Department needs to be held accountable to the taxpayers of Dormont Borough.


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