Local

Westmoreland elected official cited for allegedly slapping fellow commissioner, making threats

A Rostraver commissioner was cited with two counts of harassment or physical contact and disorderly conduct for allegedly threatening people and slapping a fellow commissioner in the face during a township-sponsored Halloween event.

The citations filed accuse John J. Lorenzo, 43, of Rostraver, of yelling obscenities, grabbing people by the shoulders and slapping township commissioner Jeffrey Johnson in the face “at a township-sponsored trick-or-treat event with multiple families and children present,” state police wrote, according to Channel 11 news partner the Tribune-Review.

Lorenzo is enrolled in the state’s probationary Accelerated Rehabilitative Disposition Program following prosecution on charges he created fake social media accounts.

Lorenzo was arrested less than a year ago and was accepted into the program for two years.

Lorenzo’s attorney, Jeff Ries, told the Trib his understanding of the Oct. 31 incident “is very different than what’s in these citations.”

Ries said Lorenzo “is adamant that he was not escorted out by the police at all.”

“The first we heard about this was in a letter from the township solicitor, and it did not rise to the level of these allegations,” Ries told the Trib.

Lorenzo’s term expires in 2024. After being elected in 2019, he switched his party affiliation from Democrat to Republican.