Sheriff Groody and three other defendants named in civil suit by Litwhiler

Jun. 11—POTTSVILLE — A defamation lawsuit that includes county Sheriff Joseph G. Groody as one of four defendants was filed Thursday in the Schuylkill County Court of Common Pleas by Douglas Litwhiler for alleged damages from derogatory Facebook posts.

Litwhiler still remains a candidate for the office of sheriff after winning his unchallenged bid on the Republican primary ballot. If he decides not to withdraw as he had previously indicated he would, Litwhiler would face Democrat incumbent Groody in the Nov. 2 general election.

The filing of the civil action was made through Litwhiler's legal counsel, attorney Joseph F. Orso III of the law firm of Rudinski, Orso & Lynch, P.C., Williamsport.

In addition to Groody, the other defendants named were Anthony Kodack, of Ashland, who created the "Schuylkill County Sheriff Candidate Doug Litwhiler likes young girls" Facebook page; page administrator Renae Warcola and former administrator Kylee Petritch.

The lawsuit has two counts in the complaint, with Count I being defamation and Count II about civil conspiracy. Litwhiler, the plaintiff, is asking for compensatory and punitive damages against all defendants in excess of $50,000 each and has demanded a jury trial. Each defendant will be served by the sheriff's office and have 20 days to respond to the court afterward.

In the complaint, it states that Groody was contacted by Litwhiler by phone to announce his GOP candidacy and claimed that Groody threatened him by ruining Litwhiler's reputation and told him to abandon the election race. Groody has denied that he made any such threats and that the phone conversation was only about 10 seconds. Litwhiler claims the conversation lasted at least two minutes and there are text messages to substantiate the claim.

It also states that "Ashland defendants" Kodack, Warcola and Petritsch "are responsible for and have control of the content of the defamatory Facebook page," and "On information and belief, the Ashland defendants created the Facebook page in collusion with and at the direction of the defendant Joseph G. Groody" and that the sole purpose of the page is to advance the political interest of Groody.

"As a result of the defamatory page, Plaintiff (Litwhiler) has suffered a lost of earnings and impairment of earning capacity" and "as an additional result of the defamatory Facebook page, Plaintiff has sustained an impairment to his reputation," the complaint states.

Count I in the complaint is claims defamation in that "the posts on the Facebook page created by the Ashland defendants are false and accuse Plaintiff of criminal and/or immoral conduct" and "the statements posted ... were made with reckless disregard as to the truth or falsity of the statements."

Count II is about criminal conspiracy, in that "on information and belief, the defendants acted in concert to create and disseminate the aforementioned libelous and slanderous material."

Responding to the lawsuit, Groody issued a prepared statement:

"Because of recent allegations made against my opponent, Douglas Litwhiler, my opponent has wrongly brought my name and reputation into these claims. The voters of Schuylkill County deserve transparency when electing public officials, and I want to publicly state that I had absolutely no involvement in any way with any accusations made against my opponent. I have never spoken with or conspired with any individuals regarding emails, text messages, Facebook posts, or any allegations against my opponent."

Groody continues, "I have become aware of numerous allegations against my opponent that have been made public, mainly through Facebook and by reports in several newspapers. As I have stated throughout my 13-year term as sheriff of Schuylkill County, I support all victims of sexual harassment, as it is something I take very seriously. I won three prior elections for sheriff by running positive campaigns based on my qualifications and my 43-year record in law enforcement. This re-election campaign will be no different, and I look forward to running the same type of positive campaign this fall on my record and reputation, and I look forward to continuing to serve as your sheriff for the next four years."

Groody stated he is honored to have been endorsed by the Pennsylvania State Police Phillip C. Melley Memorial Lodge 65 of the PA State Troopers Association, Schuylkill County Chiefs of Police, North Schuylkill Lodge 25, Schuylkill-Carbon FOP Lodge 13 and the Schuylkill Labor Council.

"These endorsements speak for themselves as to my qualifications and reputation as sheriff of Schuylkill County," Groody concluded.

When asked to comment on the lawsuit, Kodack said his attorney, Jessalyn Cool with the RFE Law Firm LLC, Swarthmore, recommended that she be present for all future interviews and had no further comment. Warcola and Petritsch could not be reached for comment.

Orso said Wednesday that five to six defendants would be in the lawsuit.

"I know yesterday that I said five or six defendants, but I paired it down to what I believe to be the four most culpable," Orso said.

Orso was asked to define civil conspiracy: "A civil conspiracy is two or more people get together and work toward an illegal, improper purpose. In this case, it is alleged that the four of them worked together to create this defamatory Facebook site."

When asked about who serves the notices of the lawsuit, Orso said, "That's an interesting thing. Typically, they need to be served by the sheriff. When it was indicated that the page was not going to be taken down, I talked with the sheriff's solicitor (James Bohorad) and I said I don't want to have any problem here with service. He said that the sheriff's office will do their job. And for Kodack, his lawyer said that I didn't even have to send the sheriff and that she would just accept it. Those who are served will have 20 days to respond."

As for the damage amount, Orso said you must ask for $50,000 or higher to be able to have a jury trial."

"We're asking for a bunch more than that from each defendant. The damages in this case are severe," Orso said. "We demanded a jury trial so any determination of damages will be made by a jury."

Orso was asked how it was determined that Groody was allegedly involved.

"We have those text messages and you'll find out it's his phone number," Orso said. "What more proof do you need. They gave me the case on a platter."

Groody has denied having any connection to the texts, and the email from which screen captures of the texts were sent, schuylkilldemocrats@yahoo.com, is not the correct email for the county Democratic party, whose chairman has said the party knows nothing about the texts or emails.

Litwhiler was fired as a part-time police officer by Ringtown Borough Council on June 1. The Republican Herald reported Thursday that it was a result of the allegations, but borough solicitor Robert E. Matta said that is incorrect. He said Litwhiler was hired in January subject to a six-month probationary period and a performance evaluation, and that the firing was "based upon performance."

On the night of the firing, council President Leonard G. Kamarousky Jr. said he couldn't discuss particulars because it was a personnel matter.

Litwhiler at the time said he knew the firing was coming and blamed it on a lack of communication with the new mayor. The mayor in turn said there were no issues between him and Litwhiler.

(Updated to clarify Groody's position and that of the Democratic party on the texts.)

Contact the writer: jusalis@republicanherald.com; 570-628-6023