Prospect Mountain parent now charging malicious prosecution as part of effort to silence him

The father of a former Prospect Mountain High School (PMHS) student and his son who are suing the school over a 2005 dispute that resulted in the young man being suspended have raised the stakes in their legal battle, charging the school, the town and its representatives with “malicious prosecution” and one official with making false statements to local police officers.

Attorneys representing PMHS and the town say the charges are baseless and the case should be dismissed. The case is currently on the docket in the U.S. District Court in Concord.

The initial dispute arose on Feb. 2, 2005 when a PMHS student informed then Vice Principal Arthur W. Abelmann that the gas cap on his car had been vandalized — the gas cap was taken off, put in the snow and then put back on the car hood.

Abelmann had reason to suspect Corey Scrocca, of 35B Will Smith Road in Center Barnstead, and another youngsters were involved in the prank and questioned them separately about the incident the next day.

At first Scrocca denied having any role in the situation but he later admitted to being there when it took place.

Abelmann suspended both of the young men for three days.

That same day Russell Scrocca, Corey’s father, came to the school to speak with Abelmann. He admitted later that he was not whispering, but Abelmann and several other witnesses said his discussion with the vice-principal consisted of the father “yelling.”

On Feb. 7, the vice-principal, who now works as a vice-principal at Laconia High School, filed an official police report with then-School Resource Officer Grant Nichols.

Abelmann said he felt “ambushed” by the father, who yelled at him and threatened him with legal action. “He threatened to call Channel 9 news and the school superintendent in an effort to ‘have his job,” according to Officer Nichols’ report. Abelmann told Nichols he tried to calm the man down but when he would not, he asked him to leave the building.

In the middle of the main office building, the vice-principal and at least one witness indicated that Scrocca appeared to be trying to bait the school official by asking him, “What, are you going to touch me?” and “You’d better start looking for a new job, and you’d better keep your hands off the girls in the school!”

Witnesses said Scrocca was “verbally resistant” to leaving the school as Abelmann walked him out.

Officer Nichols later spoke with Scrocca by telephone to try to clarify the situation. But his report states that the parent quickly accused him of being “friends with all of them over there (at PMHS).”

“I told him I’d been told he’d been very ‘disruptive’ after meeting with Mr. Abelmann and he began to yell that I was ‘in bed’ with the people at the school,” the SRO wrote in his report. “I said, ‘Do you realize you committed an offense when you began yelling?’ He said, ‘Ah, bullshit. I can yell and be as loud as I want!’ I corrected him and told him it was a misdemeanor to cause a disturbance in a school.”

After Nichols’ investigation was complete, Scrocca was arrested on Feb. 25 and changed with creating a Disturbance in School, a Class A Misdemeanor offense with a maximum penalty of a year in jail and a $2,000 fine. The charge was later amended to Disturbance of the Peace and then placed on file without a judgment, in effect dismissing it.

In court papers filed last year, Scrocca’s attorney, Richard C. Mooney of Concord, claimed the father was the victim of “malicious prosecution” and that Vice-Principal Abelmann had made false statements about him to the police because Scrocca threatened to take action against his job. Mooney also argued that the son, Corey, was suspended without benefit of a fair hearing before school officials, which was a violation of his civil rights.

During the summer, attorney Dean B. Eggert of Concord, who is representing Abelmann and PMHS, asked the court to dismiss the case, saying there are no grounds for a valid complaint. He also said that the legal time limit for contesting Corey Scrocca’s suspension from school had run out.

In November filings pushing his argument, Eggert notes “courts do not and cannot intervene in the resolution of conflicts which arise in the daily operation of school systems and which do not directly and sharply implicate basic constitutional values… (The Scrocca) are utilizing the resources of the United States District Court for the District of New Hampshire to make a federal case out of a three-day suspension that occurred in 2005.”

Attorneys representing the town and the Police Department say they acted within their legal authority when they arrested the older Scrocca.

But Mooney responded by saying the town had no cause to arrest his client and that the civil rights of both the father and the son have been violated. He also says the time limit to dispute Cody Scrocca’s school suspension had not run out because it did not go into effect until several days later — within the three-year time limit.

Some of the language used by Money in court documents is curious. In one he claims Mr. Scrocca was assaulted, then later changes that claim to “malicious arrest.” In another document he claims his clients’ case is against “the Winnisquam Regional School District.” And there are numerous instances in which people involved in the dispute are either misidentified or only partially identified.

The court is still considering the Motion to Dismiss filed by Eggert. No trial date has yet been set.