SHENANDOAH — Back-to-back preliminary hearings for Lawrence “Larry” A. Levy Jr., 40, of 527 E. Market St., Mahanoy City, on charges of stalking were held Thursday in Shenandoah that resulted in all charges being held for county court.
Magisterial District Judge Anthony J. Kilker heard both hearings for Levy, who is a Mahanoy City streets employee and the recently-elected borough constable.
The cases were prosecuted by state Deputy Attorney General Michelle Laucella, who said the state office took on the prosecution due to Schuylkill County District Attorney Christine Holman filing a conflict of interest request. Levy was represented by attorney Leo Breznik, Shenandoah.
Laucella began with a request that both hearings be conducted simultaneously. Breznik objected and asked for each hearing be heard separately, to which Kilker agreed.
The first preliminary hearing involved charges filed with Kilker by Mahanoy City police Cpl. Michael Dissinger and Schuylkill County Detective John Killian on Nov. 12, 2015, involving alleged obstructing the administration of law and other governmental function, tampering with or fabricating physical evidence, stalking (two charges), all of which are misdemeanors, and harassment, which is a summary offense.
The criminal complaint filed by Dissinger and Killian said that David Bickowski, Mahanoy City, came to the borough police station on March 18, 2014, and made a complaint with Dissinger that someone was allegedly stalking his wife, Lori Bickowski, with messages and photos sent to her posted through Facebook by a “John Smith.” Dissinger reviewed the information provided and said that it was clear that Smith was familiar with the Bickowskis and their activities.
In the complaint, Dissinger said the messages were reviewed from March 14 to March 18 since they were saved by the Bickowskis.
The first person on the stand was Lori Bickowski, who received the messages that raised concerns about being contacted by someone she did not know but who knew things about her and her husband.
“Were the messages unwanted?” Laucella asked, to which Bickowski said, “Yes.”
Bickowski said when the messages began, they said, “Hello. How are you?” After a time, they delved into things that only family members would know.
“There was a message that said the person wanted to meet with me and have sex with me, and that he knew me since we were in high school,” Bickowski said. “He wrote that he knew when my husband would be working and not at home, what he and my three children were doing. I was scared. I was afraid to be alone.”
Bickowski said that she and her husband had no idea who “John Smith” was.
When Breznik cross-examined Bickowski, he said that message transcripts comprised many pages. She said that she had never “friended” him on Facebook.
“You could have blocked him, but you went on to have conversations,” Breznik said. “Why didn’t you block the conversations?”
“I wanted to find out who it was,” Bickowski said.
“You had no idea who it was?” Breznik asked, to which Bickowski said “No.”
During the investigation it was discovered that Levy’s wife, Betty Lou Levy, is sister to Lori Bickowski. Breznik asked about Bickowski’s sister, to which she said she has no contact with Betty Levy.
When Bickowski left the stand, Laucella requested that Renee Brill, Mahanoy City, who filed a complaint with the borough police that led to a second set of charges being filed on Nov. 24, 2015, take the stand. Breznik objected and asked for each hearing be heard separately.
“One case at a time,” Breznik told Kilker, who agreed to his request.
Laucella called Dissinger to the stand, who testified about David Bickowski speaking with him at the police station on March 18, 2014 about the harassing Facebook messages. After Bickowski had left, Dissinger began reviewing the information and looked at the John Smith Facebook page. Dissinger said a “confidential informant,” or “C.I.,” who assists in drug investigations, looked at the Facebook profile and other information and told Dissinger that he believed it was Levy’s page.
Dissinger reviewed Levy’s real page and saw similarities in both.
“Later in the evening I decided to talk to Levy, who came to the station,” Dissinger said. “Levy told me that ‘John Smith’ was not his Facebook name, but that he had created other Facebook pages with other names.”
After the interview, Dissinger attempted to look at the Smith page about a half hour later and found the Facebook account was deleted.
A search warrant was obtained by Dissinger to obtain Levy’s cellphone, but Levy said it was lost. Several months later Levy told his boss, borough street foreman Robert King, that he has a new cellphone. King also testified. Another search warrant was obtained by Dissinger, and the cellphone was taken.
Breznik asked King if the cellphone that Levy showed him was the same one, with King stating he did not know if it was the cellphone originally sought in the first warrant.
“I have no idea if it was the same phone,” King said.
Breznik said there were no physical records of the Facebook page secured by the police, which led him to show a lack of evidence.
“There is no direct connection with John Smith and Larry Levy,” Breznik said. He also said that there was no proof that Levy deliberately ignored the first warrant and did not turn over the phone, saying it was lost, and that the charges of obstruction and tampering were not warranted.
In the closing argument to Kilker, Breznik said the stalking charges have not been proven since there was not reasonable fear of bodily harm and no evidence to pursue those charges. He also said the connection between Levy and Smith was not proven.
Laucella asked Kilker to hold all charges involving stalking, obstruction and tampering.
“We’ve made a prima facia case,” Laucella said.
Kilker considered the matter and then ordered all charges be held for court.
The second case began on charges filed at Kilker’s office on Nov. 24 by Dissinger. The first charge was stalking borough resident Renee Brill, with the second charge that Levy allegedly did with intent harass, annoy or alarm Brill in a public place on the 600 block of West Centre Street and other borough locations.
Brill was the first to take the stand and was questioned by Laucella. Brill said she saw Levy driving by her home on West Centre Street multiple times on different days, sometimes in the borough-owned truck and his own pickup truck.
“It was for a couple of months,” Brill said, noting that when she was outside she would be with her daughter Nicole or grandchildren. “He would drive by the house two to three times a week. Not every single week. Sometimes he did stop and yell at us, call us ‘scumbags’ and ‘drug addicts.’ I was afraid to come outside. I reported it to the police because I was afraid because he knew where I lived and worked.”
Laucella said that the incidents caused substantial emotional distress for Brill.
During his questioning, Breznik asked Brill, “You never made a threat (against Levy)?” Brill answered “No.”
Breznik showed a copy of a post on Brill’s Facebook page, asking her to read it aloud. Laucella objected, but Kilker said she could look at it, but did not have to read it. After reading it, Breznik asked if she had written it, to which she said that she did not. Breznik added that she posted the news story on Levy being charged with stalking Lori Bickowski on her Facebook page, with Brill saying “I don’t remember.”
Dissinger also testified, stating that he questioned local residents, and also checked with the borough office on whether Levy should have been in the area for work-related tasks at the times when he was in the area. He said the borough’s system does not have schedules that are that specific on where employees would be working at particular times.
Breznik said that just as with police, streets employees are also out driving through town to reach work assignments.
“He (Levy) was doing his job as a borough worker,” Breznik said.
As testimony ended, Kilker said the two charges will be held over for court. Kilker reminded Levy that he is still under the stipulations when he was released on both sets of charges. The Nov. 12 unsecured bail was set at $25,000, while the Nov. 24 bail was also unsecured at $50,000.
“Bail is continued and there will be no contact (with those in these cases),” Kilker told Levy.