Former Delmont woman jailed again for threats against judge

A Westmoreland County prosecutor said Thursday a former Delmont woman convicted last summer of threatening a judge should serve time in prison.

Prosecutors alleged similar behavior against the same public official at the county courthouse earlier this year.

Common Pleas Judge Christopher Feliciani ordered Jennifer L. Gesuale, 43, to remain in jail pending a hearing for a prosecution claim that she violated terms of her house arrest and probation. Prosecutors said Gesuale recorded a video in which authorities said additional threats were made against the judge who years earlier presided over her child custody case.

Gesuale pleaded guilty last summer to charges she illegally recorded court workers in 2019 and made threats against Westmoreland County Common Pleas Judge Michele Bononi in a series of YouTube videos. Gesuale recorded the videos after she fled the jurisdiction as prosecutors sought to revoke her bail.

In the videos, Gesuale called for Bononi to be shot and hanged.

She was ordered last summer to serve 18 months on house arrest and seven years on probation and was barred from accessing social media.

Prosecutors contend Gesuale violated terms of her probation when she posted another video on social media this spring. Authorities said the video was recorded outside Bononi’s courthouse office, which Gesuale referred to as a “death chamber.”

Assistant District Attorney Jim Lazar said Gesuale also encountered Bononi outside an elevator at the courthouse, another alleged violation of her probation, according to the prosecutor.

“We ask that she continue to be detained, her probation revoked and resentenced to state prison where she can get the help she needs,” Lazar said.

Gesaule admitted to making and posting the video but denied it was a threat. She claimed the meeting with the judge was accidental and occurred as she walked at the direction of a court employee while seeking to have another judge sign court documents to allow her to file lawsuits against the county’s probation office and staffers.

She pleaded with the judge to release her pending the probation revocation hearing, which will be scheduled later this year, and to rescind the court-ordered ban on her use of social media.

“I would please like to be released to keep my home, my pets and my job,” Gesaule said.

She told the judge she works at a men’s club in Kittanning and, because of the ankle bracelet that she is required to wear as part of her house arrest sentence, she is unable to find work closer to home.

“I want you to lift the social media (ban) so I can dance online or work as a tarot card reader,” Gesuale said.