Lower Burrell councilman on harassment conviction: 'I will be vindicated'

Lower Burrell Councilman Joseph Grillo denies claims that he harassed his ex-fiancee.

Grillo accused Cecelia Sharrock of making false statements before a Turtle Creek district judge as well as in a private criminal complaint she filed against him on charges of harassment and defiant trespass.

“I feel that I will be vindicated when it’s all done,” Grillo, 59, of Lower Burrell said Wednesday.

Sharrock could not be reached for comment.

District Judge Scott Schricker found Grillo guilty Tuesday of harassing Sharrock after she said he continued to contact her after she and a police officer told him not to.

Neither Grillo nor his lawyer, Stephen Yakopec Jr., showed up for Tuesday’s summary trial.

Grillo was fined $600, plus court costs.

No plans to resign

Mayor Richard Callender said the situation is “an embarrassment to the city” but did not call for Grillo to resign. Callender said Grillo should do what’s best for the city.

Asked if he would resign, Grillo said “not at all.”

Councilmen Christopher Fabry, Robert Hamilton and Christopher Koziarski could not be reached Wednesday afternoon.

Under state law, an elected municipal official can be removed from office after being convicted of misbehavior in office or of any “infamous crime.” Courts have interpreted the phrase “infamous crime” to mean a felony or a crime involving dishonesty or a falsehood.

Whether Grillo’s conviction constitutes an “infamous crime” is unclear.

Lower Burrell Solicitor John Rushford declined to comment on the allegations against Grillo. Rushford said he needed to review the case before commenting on the possibility of the councilman being removed from office.

Yakopec said he wasn’t aware the trial was scheduled, and he intends to file an appeal. He said he asked the judge’s office for a continuance more than a week ago.

Grillo said the continuance was requested so he and Yakopec could get his cellphone records. He said he would have attended the trial if he had known it was scheduled.

“I know that, if the judge would have said to me, ‘No, Joe, no, we’re not going to file the continuance,’ we’d have been there, and I’d have put it in God’s hands,” Grillo said.

Sharrock, in the private criminal complaint, claimed that Grillo texted her and went to her workplace after she and a Lower Burrell police officer told him on Jan. 5 not to do so.

Sharrock testified that their engagement ended in October, and she told Grillo she didn’t want any more contact with him.

Grillo said his cellphone records will prove that he didn’t text Sharrock after Jan. 5, when he asked her to return his engagement ring and wedding bands.

A couple of weeks later, Grillo went to the bank where Sharrock works to close their joint safe deposit box. He said he and a bank manager made arrangements to do that when Sharrock wasn’t there.

Sharrock testified Tuesday that Grillo came to the bank where she works with her personal belongings.

Grillo said Sharrock additionally filed for a protection from abuse order against him, but court records show she later withdrew it.