LIBERTY – Police in Liberty have arrested a Monticello man for the fourth time in two weeks all stemming from incidents surrounding his alleged stalking and harassing behavior of an employee at a bank in the Village of Monticello.
Liberty Village Police were first called to a bank in May for a report of a person who was conducting themselves in a suspicious manner and harassing one of the bank’s employees.
Investigation revealed that Jhakem Degroat, 31, had sent an inappropriate e-mail to an employee. He was advised to cease all contact with the bank and employees and was served with a trespass affidavit barring him from going to the bank for any reason.
On September 28, police were called to the bank because Degroat was there in violation of the trespass order and was causing a disturbance, throwing items inside the bank.
He was arrested and charged with trespassing, arraigned and released immediately because of the state’s bail reform laws.
On September 29., police again arrested him on a charge of stalking an employee. He was again released.
On September 30, he was again arrested for violation of both the trespass order and a court order. This time he was charged with the felony of criminal contempt and released for a third time.
Then, on October 13, police were called back to the bank as Degroat was there again ands threw items at an employee’s desk.
He was charged with criminal contempt, harassment, stalking and criminal tampering.
This time, he was remanded to the Sullivan County Jail in lieu of $30,000 cash bail, $60,000 secured bond and $90,000 partially secured bond.
Liberty Police Chief Steven D’Agata said it is “incredibly disheartening and frustrating that innocent victims must be repeatedly subjected to criminal conduct by individuals who are arrested and then immediately released under bail reform laws.”
He said it should not take four times for an individual to be arrested “for flagrantly disregarding the orders of both the…
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