UPDATED (July 8, 2024) - Multiple sources familiar with the proceedings confirm that Mark Ozimek of Lower Saucon Township lost his appeal from the summary conviction related to threatening then Lower Saucon Council Township President Jason Banonis.
According to those present at the criminal trial, Northampton County Judge Slevtold noted Mr. Ozimek’s patten of escalated threats against Mr. Banonis, his unwillingness to accept responsibility for those actions, as well as the use of digital pictures of family members of the victim online, justified the conviction and subsequent sentencing.
Mr. Ozimek did not testify on his behalf and those present in apparent support of Mr. Ozimek did not speak in his defense. Body camera footage from Lower Saucon Township police officers and other testimony was presented against Mr. Ozimek. Local political activist and blogger, Andrea Wittchen, who defended Mr. Ozimek’s past behavior as noted in the below original article, was among those present who did not testify during the proceedings.
In a clear display of the seriousness of these threats, Judge Slevtold sentenced Mr. Ozimek to Northampton County Prison for 48-hours, to pay a $300 and serve an additional 88-day probation period. (The maximum sentence for these crimes was a $300 fine and up to 90-days in jail).
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Lower Saucon Township resident Mark Ozimek spent Halloween in the courtroom of PA Magisterial District Judge Jordan A. Knisley, receiving a guilty verdict for criminal charges related to a string of terroristic and death threats against Lower Saucon Council members. The charges stem from death threats levied specifically against Council President Jason Banonis.
According to the Lower Saucon Police Report attested to by Council President Jason Banonis, “On July 26, 2023, following the Lower Saucon Township Council meeting at Se-Wy-Co Hall, Ozimek verbally and publicly made another death threat against me. Mr. Ozimek, in the presence of [several witnesses], stated ‘I’m going to put him in a pine box.’”
The police report goes on to state, “Mr. Ozimek has a criminal history reflecting indifference to human life. Mr. Ozimek has killed before.” Saucon Voice researched this claim and found this Morning Call article from 1991, headlined “Allentown Man Bound for Trial in Fatal Crash”.
The article details that in 1991, Mark S. Ozimek, “an Allentown man [was] released by Bethlehem Police after being held for 4-1/2 hours for public drunkenness was bound over for trial for allegedly causing the death of a motorist 30 minutes later.” As a result, Ozimek would be charged with homicide by vehicle, vehicular homicide while driving under the influence, involuntary manslaughter and three counts of recklessly endangering another person.
According to the publicly available court docket from the incident, Ozimek appears to have plead guilty to homicide by vehicle while driving under the influence, driving under the influence of alcohol, and driving with a blood alcohol level .10% or greater.
Returning to Ozimek’s most recent threat against an elected official, according to publicly available information, Ozimek was found guilty to 18 § 5503 §§ A4, or disorderly conduct. According to statute, “a person is guilty of disorderly conduct if, with intent to cause public inconvenience, annoyance or alarm, or recklessly create a risk thereof”, “creates a hazardous or physically offensive condition by an act which serves no legitimate purpose.”
In a disturbing Facebook post published yesterday (and since deleted), Ozimek wrote, “I just lost in court today. I want [sic] because Jason Banonis brought it up in court. I want anyone e to pro ide [sic] me with pictures of his family. His kids and his wife because he claimed if they seen me anywhere near his house they were to call the police.”
While Ozimek is not currently a candidate for office, he has been working locally with democrat activist Andrea Wittchen, who in a Facebook post from her ‘Saucon Shenanigans’ Page dated December 23, 2022, in which she states, “Mark Ozimek recorded Wednesday night’s township zoning hearing. … A giant thank you to Mark for having the time and patience to do this! You’re a good man!”
This comment is in reference to the fact that Wittchen and Ozimek have collaborated for more than a year on recording and disseminating Lower Saucon Council meeting videos online.
Saucon Voice readers should also be aware that on June 26, 2023, Wittchen claimed “This is WAR, landfill warriors!” This comment was made prior to Wittchen ‘doxing’ Lower Saucon Council members by sharing their home addresses in her blog post from September 19, 2023.
It’s unclear if phrasing political disagreements as ‘war,’ associating with, and lending comfort to, a convicted felon who made explicit death threats against elected officials and political opponents or their families rises to the level of incitement to violence warranting further inquiry. Saucon Voice has reached out to legal professionals for perspective, but has not received a response at time of publication.
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