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LISBON -- A written decision regarding a temporary protection order against East Liverpool Mayor Bobby Smith is expected early next week, following a hearing on the matter that was held Wednesday before Domestic Relations Magistrate Lynsey Lyle-Opalenik.
Joseph Desarro, 30, Duke Vodrey Road, filed the petition for a civil stalking protection order April 18 in reference to an incident that occurred behind a closed bedroom door during a housing inspection in March at 739 Cadmus St. Neither party denies the conversation -- which centered on drug abuse and the overdose death of Smith's son, Adam -- took place in a second-story bedroom, but the intent of that conversation differs, with Desarro seeing the interaction as a threat and Smith insisting it was meant to express concern for Desarro.
In his initial petition, Desarro alleged Smith that told him "s*** is gonna stop, meaning drugs" and lifted his shirt to expose a gun on his hip. Desarro reiterated those intimidation claims during Wednesday's hearing, testifying that Smith, who he said he had just met moments earlier, asked to speak to him privately, bringing up both his son's death and the death of a mutual friend shared by Desarro and Adam. Desarro testified that Smith told him he wanted to harm the mutual friend in the past "for doing drugs with his son." The friend later died of an overdose.
"He told the story basically to get to a point and I knew the point he was trying to get at," Desarro testified. "He basically told me he wanted to kill him and that he worked at a cemetery and had already dug his grave."
Smith's testimony painted a different picture.
"I asked Joey to come into the bedroom and I shut the door, and I spoke of life issues as a father would to a son. I have experience in this mess. My son overdosed and died, and I talked to Joey as I would my own son. He was receptive to it. There were no loud voices. We both teared up and shook hands. There were no issues at all."
Smith accompanied East Liverpool Director of Housing Amy Toot and housing inspector Erica Rice to the residence on March 26, as city documents reflect. The housing officials were there to perform a final inspection on the dwelling. The house was already condemned when Desarro purchased it with the intention of renovating it. He had completed the necessary repairs to make the house "inhabitable"again, and following that inspection, the house was uncondemned. Smith previously said he accompanied Toot and Rice because he has known the Desarro family for years. He testified on Wednesday that as a former housing inspector, he is often present at city housing inspections.
Desarro testified he believed Smith came to the inspection with the intention of confronting him on alleged drug activity at the house.
"After he told me everything that happened with his son, he started asking me about these pills ... he never mentioned anything about the house," Desarro testified. "He was supposed to be there for a housing inspection, but he didn't talk about the house. He mentioned his son. I wasn't really understanding why he was there."
A search warrant was executed at the Cadmus Street home on Feb. 12. That search yielded over 1,000 grams or 1 kilo of suspected counterfeit pressed fentanyl pills disguised as prescription Percocet. Agents also found roughly 56 grams of suspected cocaine and more than $7,000 cash. Charges remain pending against Desarro after being bound over for consideration by the county grand jury related to the drug raid, including third-degree felonies of tampering with evidence and failure to comply with the order or signal of a police officer. Additional charges are pending lab results.
Desarro, who was previously convicted of trafficking in drugs and sentenced to 20 months in prison in 2020, is also facing a criminal trespass charge in Municipal Court for allegedly entering the condemned home on March 19.
The search warrant became a point of contention during the home inspection when Desarro's mother, Dianna, and Smith had a heated exchange in the kitchen following the upstairs conversation. Smith and the housing inspectors left when tempers started to flare.
Smith and Desarro both testified that Smith called Desarro later that night, but the tone of that call was also disputed. Smith said he called because he felt "bad" about how the inspection had ended in a squabble with Desarro's mother and to again express concern for Desarro. Desarro said he saw the call as further intimidation.
Desarro later referenced the phone conversation to establish a pattern of intimidation when Smith's attorney made a request to dismiss the petition on the grounds that the Ohio stalking statute requires "two or more actions closely related in time." The motion for dismissal was denied by Lyle-Opalenik.
Toot and Rice, as well as Desarro's mother and his wife Lataya DeSarro also testified at Wednesday's hearing.
Dianna Desarro's testimony corroborated that of her son's, disputing that Smith knew the family well. She further testified that she initially asked to speak to Smith in the kitchen because she felt uncomfortable that he had spoken to her son privately and said that exchange did become heated over the search warrant, which she believed was unlawfully executed.
Toot testified that it was not unusual for Smith to speak to residents about drug abuse and had witnessed him do so before. She referred to Smith as "father figure" who often has "heart-to-hearts" about drug overdoses with residents due to the loss of his son.
Toot, Rice and Lataya Desarro all testified to the heated exchange between Desarro's mother and Smith and that its escalation -- in which, according to Lataya Desarro's testimony, both Smith and Dianna Desarro raised their voices -- is what ultimately ended the inspection.
Both Toot and Rice also testified that while they could not hear exactly what was said between Smith and Desarro during the conversation behind the closed bedroom door, they could decipher the nature of it and neither Smith nor Desarro spoke loudly, with the two shaking hands after exiting the room.
Desarro, Lataya and Dianna filed a report of the incident at the East Liverpool Police Station on March 26. When previously asked about the report and whether there had been an investigation, East Liverpool Police Chief John Lane said the two housing inspectors had heard everything and "they said that's not what happened."
Regarding the complaint, Lane said "it was unfounded pretty much."
Following Wednesday's proceeding, Desarro and his mother both stood by their testimony. Both expressed sympathy for Smith on the loss of his son, but maintained that his alleged actions during the inspection were inappropriate at best.
"There's always going to be a Joey Desarro, someone that's misunderstood, but it has to start within the walls," Dianna Desarro said. "We all want to clean up the streets, but if you're the law, you have to follow the law. It can't happen any other way, and my son is somebody, too, regardless of his past."
Smith, meanwhile, called the hearing"ridiculous".
"Anything that I said to any of those people was to help them," Smith said outside the courtroom.
selverd@mojonews.com