Dennis Puskarcik

CAMPBELL — The former chief of police is in police custody again.

Reports from the Campbell Police Department released Tuesday show Dennis Puskarcik, 69, was arrested on a warrant about 12:15 p.m. Monday at his Robinson Avenue home.

Campbell Municipal Court Judge Mark Kolmacic hired Puskarcik as bailiff in early January, not long after former bailiff David Horvath’s second arrest for drug-related charges. Horvath had been arrested on charges of cocaine possession in July during a traffic stop, and was charged again at the end of December in a similar encounter.

A city employee said Kolmacic kept Horvath on the court’s roster well after his first arrest, and even after the second, up through Puskarcik’s hiring.

Campbell Municipal Court records have not yet been updated to reflect the specific charges against him, but a police report filed Thursday states that Puskarcik’s arrest warrant was issued regarding charges of intimidation and disorderly conduct. A city employee said the charge of record is menacing by stalking.

The report states that a female city employee told police Puskarcik tapped her on the head and touched her hair April 21, while she was performing her duties in the courtroom, and she told him explicitly “don’t touch me,” to which Puscarcik allegedly replied “not yet.”

The court employee told a Campbell police officer Thursday that this was not the first time Puskarcik had made physical contact with her against her will.

She told the officer that Puscarcik follows her around the building, into the break room and to places where she is alone, that he has made comments about knowing where she lives, and that she is afraid to come to work when he is there, the police report states.

The woman said she knows about similar complaints made against Puskarcik by other female city employees.

Puskarcik was forced to resign in 2019 after then Campbell officer Melissa Williams — who now works for Poland Village — reported him for stealing from the department’s evidence room. He was later charged with menacing for threatening to punch Williams. In February 2020, he pleaded to a reduced charge of disorderly conduct.

The police report states that the woman told her supervisor, Dawn Pesa, about the interaction with Puskarcik in person and via email. Pesa apparently told her that there would be a conversation with Kolmacic about the incident on Friday.

The report states that the woman told Pesa she was afraid to lose her job for reporting the incident because of Puskarcik’s well-known friendship with Kolmacic.

In October, after Puskarcik asked to have his record expunged — an effort at which he ultimately succeeded — Kolmacic was set to hear the case.

A city employee said that Kolmacic only recused himself from the case when local news media showed up for the Oct. 24 hearing. Columbiana Municipal Court Judge Mark Frost (now retired) heard the case on Dec. 9, and granted Puskarcik’s motion for expungement of the disorderly conduct charge.

Williams testified during the hearing that Puscarcik was still following her, showing up at police scenes, and driving by her house.

A city employee said that Puskarcik also was issued a trespass warning from city hall on the day of the Oct. 24 expungement hearing, for harassing yet another female city employee. He said that when Kolmacic hired Puskarcik, the order was amended to exclude him only from the certain areas where that specific employee regularly worked.

Court records show that in December, Horvath was charged with OVI, resisting arrest, disorderly conduct and possession of drug paraphernalia. Both the July and December cases remain open.

Records show Kolmacic recused himself for conflict of interest. Because of the expungement, there is no online record of Puskarcik’s 2020 plea or the charges.