Lower Southampton Business Owner Sentenced To Prison For Harassing Police Officer

A Lower Southampton pawn shop owner who authorities say stalked and harassed a police detective who had cited his business for violations was sentenced this week to serve one to two years in state prison

In addition to the prison term, John D’Angelo, 49, owner of Gold N Stuff on Bustleton Pike in Feasterville, will serve consecutive three years of state probation.

D’Angelo pleaded guilty in February to felony charges of unlawful use of a computer and criminal trespass, as well as misdemeanor counts of stalking and retaliation against Lower Southampton Detective Gerald Scott. 

According to information from the Bucks County District Attorney's office, Detective Scott had issued D’Angelo two citations for violating township ordinances at the pawn shop in July 2015. D’Angelo pleaded guilty to one of the citations in September, which resulted in a 21-day suspension of business operations the following month.

"Seething over the shutdown, D’Angelo spent his suspension hatching a plot to retaliate against the detective," the District Attorney's office said.

To retaliate, the local business owner posted anonymous Craigslist ads directing people to come to Scott's house for everything from sex to free scrap metal.

In one instance, he placed an anonymous ad on Craigslist soliciting sex with men. When someone answered the ad, D'Angelo provided Scott’s home address and said to come at 11:30 p.m. He told the man to let himself in the side door.  When the man arrived, he found the door locked and sent another email inquiry. 

D’Angelo replied that someone was inside the house and that the man should come in. "Sensing that something was awry, the man left, but not before a neighbor observed him trying to enter the house and called police," authorities said.

D’Angelo continued his harassment by placing more ads on Craigslist for free items and scrap metal available at Scott's house, where he lived with his wife and three children. 

“Don’t mind the dog (it’s inside the house). Any time day or night is fine,” one said. Another ad specifically told visitors to arrive between 5 p.m. and 10 p.m.

When a stranger knocked on the door one night at 10:30 p.m., the detective's wife answered the door. She was home along with the couple's three children. When she told her husband what happened, he posted signs in the yard saying the ad was a hoax.

An investigation by Bucks County and Warminster Township detectives traced the online advertisements back to D’Angelo.

D’Angelo told the judge he was “deeply, deeply sorry,” and promised “that I won’t do anything remotely like it again.” 

Finley ordered D’Angelo to have no further contact with Scott or any of the witnesses in the case.