"ANOTHER TOWN PUBLIC OFFICIAL REPEAT OFFENDER - COMMITS ANOTHER CRIME"

March 18, 2004

Mayor's got court date after woman files harassment charge

   By Greg Cannon
   Times Herald-Record
   gcannon@th-record.com
   
   Highland Falls – A local woman says Mayor Joe D'Onofrio was an undignified dignitary at two Main Street celebrations last year and the village leader faces charges as a result.

   In a complaint filed last fall with Town of Highlands police, Joan Cronin says the mayor verbally abused her at the village's Independence Day Parade and again three months later at the Fall Foliage Festival.

   D'Onofrio, 55, has a record of harassment convictions and complaints. He now faces a second-degree harassment charge, a violation with a maximum penalty of 15 days in jail, a $250 fine, or both. His case is set to go to trial next month.

   In the July Fourth parade, D'Onofrio, dressed in a jacket and tie in the 90 degree heat, sat astride a horse. According to Cronin's complaint, D'Onofrio was making his way down Main Street when, approaching Cronin, he turned his steed toward her and called her "a wicked old woman," before riding off down the parade route.

   The complaint says D'Onofrio was riding a mule, but according to newspaper photos from that day, it appears that he was riding a horse. In the photo, a woman next to him is riding one of West Point's Army mules. That woman, local resident Sherry Cashman, did not return calls seeking comment.

   The second incident mentioned in Cronin's complaint allegedly took place on Oct. 11 at a fall festival. There, Cronin says, D'Onofrio walked up to her and said, "Every time you open your mouth, I'm gonna jump down your throat."

   Several calls made to D'Onofrio's home and his Village Hall office yesterday seeking comment were not returned, nor were calls to his Goshen lawyer, Bernard Brady.

   Cronin is a member of the local Republican Committee, which D'Onofrio chairs. People who know Cronin say she is in her 70s and a widow. She has a history of community involvement, including raising money for a civic group. She belongs to the Ladies Ancient Order of Hibernians.

   Yesterday, St. Patrick's Day, she answered the phone with a "Happy St. Patty's Day" greeting, but declined to comment on the events or her history with D'Onofrio. "No I don't want to discuss it. I was advised not to," Cronin said. "I'm sorry."

   The April 22 trial will take place in Walden Village Court. How it got there is a study in small-town political dynamics.

    The case was moved after the Town of Highlands' two justices recused themselves: Justice William desRosiers because his wife also serves on the Republican Committee, and Justice Vincent Donaldson because, he said, he'd heard about the alleged incident directly from those involved outside of a court setting.

   In 1992, D'Onofrio pleaded guilty to second-degree aggravated harassment, a misdemeanor, and was sentenced to probation after making phone calls to a village woman.

   In 1986, while serving as a village trustee, he was convicted by a federal jury on misdemeanor charges of making threatening calls to his then-wife, and spent several days in jail.

   In New York, only felony convictions trigger automatic removal of elected officials from office.

C.B.C.I OPINION:

WE BELIEVE THE COVER UP OF THIS REPEAT CRIMINAL OFFENDER POLITICIAN, SHOULD END IMMEDIATELY WITH HIS RESIGNATION, BESIDES HIS FORTHCOMING "SLAP ON THE HAND"...

Citizens Board for Criminal Investigations

Into Criminal Activity and Corruption within Police Agencies and by Elected or Public Officials

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