Jan 30, 2018 4 min read

MASONTOWN – The president of Masontown Borough Council has filed a federal lawsuit accusing the Fayette County town’s police department of trying to intimidate him by searching his home earlier this month as political retribution for his criticism of its officers.

The lawsuit filed Friday by John Stoffa II and his wife, Rosa, claims Masontown police searched his borough home Jan. 18 and seized various items after he began voicing concerns in 2014 about “seemingly corrupt and unethical actions” within the police department and council, and later asked for an independent audit of the department.

Stoffa, who has been a councilman since January 2016 and was recently selected as the board’s president, claims the officers violated his First, Fourth and 14th Amendment rights through the search and other intimidation in recent weeks.

His attorney, Charity Krupa, said the search was one of the most “un-American cases” she has seen, because it targeted someone who was critical of the police department and other public officials.

“He was just an average Joe who was concerned about what was happening in his town from the very beginning,” Krupa said. “It’s definitely an effort to retaliate against him for voicing his complaints and trying to silence him from going any further.”

In the search warrant signed by District Judge Mike Defino Jr., who is a magistrate in neighboring Brownsville, Masontown police alleged they received reports Stoffa was circulating obscene photos of a nude woman “claiming to be a person involved in the borough … in an attempt to smear or cause upheaval, or influence” last year’s municipal election. Police seized from Stoffa’s home cellphones, notebooks, computers, memory sticks, photographs and an iPad, according to the search warrant.

Police Chief Joseph Ryan, who is named as a defendant in the lawsuit, said that investigation is ongoing. He declined to comment on the federal lawsuit.

Masontown police Officers Thomas O’Barto and Alexis Metros, along with Cumberland Township police Detective Tony Gismondi, all of whom were present during the search, also are named as defendants. So, too, are Mayor Toni Petrus, former councilmen Harry Lee and Frank McLaughlin, and the Masontown and Cumberland Township police departments. Masontown solicitor Gary Monaghan declined to comment Monday afternoon, saying the borough had not yet received the lawsuit.

“They illegally used that search warrant and made false statements to secure the search warrant,” Krupa told the Observer-Reporter.

She said the search was the culmination of several events over the past three years in which council members and the police attempted to intimidate Stoffa as he raised questions about the borough.

Lee, a former council president, was cited in September 2014 for allegedly shoving Stoffa at a meeting, although the harassment citation was dismissed two months later after Stoffa said he did not wish to pursue the case when Lee reportedly promised to pay medical bills. Stoffa claims his home was vandalized shortly thereafter when someone spray-painted derogatory language on the exterior.

After Stoffa won election to council in November 2015, the lawsuit alleges Lee told him if borough council “messed with the police, they will find reasons to start arresting all of us.” Stoffa continued to criticize police and later called for an independent audit of the department.

Stoffa later campaigned against Lee and McLaughlin, both of whom lost their re-election bids last year.

Upon being elected council president during the borough’s Jan. 2 reorganization, Stoffa suggested eliminating the department’s police dog unit and cutting hours and shifts to save money. The lawsuit claims Petrus, acting as mayor, ordered the officers to attend council’s Jan. 9 meeting in uniform in an attempt to intimidate Stoffa. The meeting became “heated” at times, the lawsuit states.

On Jan. 17, O’Barto requested the search warrant on a supposed tip from an unnamed woman. The search warrant claims the department in November began investigating election tampering or extortion. The lawsuit claims investigators made “intentionally misleading statements” to the Fayette County district attorney’s office and magistrate in order to obtain the warrant.

Krupa said Stoffa is still waiting for his personal items to be returned, including an iPad used by his special-needs son.

The lawsuit is demanding unspecified monetary compensation.

The next borough council meeting is scheduled for Feb. 13 at 7 p.m.