LISBON — A magistrate on Tuesday denied a civil stalking protection order sought against East Liverpool Mayor Bobby Smith by East Liverpool resident Joseph Desarro, ruling the evidence was insufficient.

In the ruling, Columbiana County Common Pleas Court Domestic Relations Magistrate Lynsey Lyle-Opalenik wrote there was no evidence that would allow the court to find that Smith caused or attempted to cause Desarro “physical harm or the type of mental distress contemplated by the law.”

She noted that Desarro, the petitioner, “failed to testify that (Smith) caused him mental distress as defined” and while Desarro’s mother, Dianna Stidfole, testified that she and Desarro were in fear of Smith, she’s not a party to the case.

Referring to Desarro as the petitioner and Smith as the respondent, Lyle-Opalenik wrote that the “petitioner would have had to testify as to his own mental distress and fear of respondent and he simply did not.”

“Finally, while this court would admonish the respondent for potentially acting outside of his official duties as Mayor of East Liverpool, the issues presented herein are simply not resolvable through a Civil Stalking Protection Order,” she wrote.

Besides denying the civil stalking protection order petition, Lyle-Opalenik also vacated the temporary protection order issued April 18.

Desarro, 30, filed the petition for a civil stalking protection order last month in reference to an incident in March during a housing inspection at his residence at 739 Cadmus St. when he alleged Smith was talking about his own son’s death and lifted his shirt to show him his gun on his hip as he told him the “s*** is gonna stop, meaning drugs.”

He then said Smith called later to tell him he didn’t like how him being at the house ended with an argument with Desarro’s mother, but he meant what he said in the previous conversation they had.

The protection order was granted temporarily, requiring Smith to stay away from Desarro and to not possess, use, carry or obtain any deadly weapon while the order remained in effect.

According to an East Liverpool police report on March 26, Desarro, his wife Lataya and his mother Dianna came to the police station. Desarro told police about the incident highlighted in the protection order petition when Smith was at the Cadmus Street home when the inspectors were there to inspect the house. He claimed Smith walked into a bedroom with him and closed the door, then started talking about his deceased son and his son’s friend. Desarro claimed that Smith talked about wanting to harm the son’s friend in the past and lifted his shirt exposing a handgun on his right hip.

The ruling denying the full petition referred to the testimony about the conversation in the bedroom, a disagreement Smith had with Stidfole and the phone call that night, with Desarro testifying that Smith flashed his gun. The judgment entry described Stidfole’s testimony in which she said Smith pushed her on her lower back and twisted her ponytail around his finger as they were going from the second floor of the house to the first floor. She testified that she was afraid of him.

Desarro’s wife, Lataya, testified that as she was walking down the stairs from the home inspection, Smith held up his fist and she thought he wanted to fist-bump, but when she tried to fist-bump him, he acted as though he was going to hit her. She testified that “she never felt threatened.” She also saw him twirl Stidfole’s hair, but did not see the push.

During the hearing last week, two city officials, housing inspectors Amy Toot and Erica Rice, both testified about what they saw and heard. According to the judgment entry, Toot testified the interaction between Desarro and Smith was appropriate and she saw them shake hands and embrace. She didn’t hear all the words spoken in the bedroom, but said she never heard raised voices. She said Stidfole was very upset with Smith and both Toot and Rice said Desarro attempted to step in and deescalate the situation between Stidfole and Smith.

According to the judgment entry, during his testimony, Smith said he took Desarro into the bedroom to talk about life issues as he would his own son. He said Desarro was receptive to the conversation and he wanted Desarro to straighten up his life.

He testified “he never threatened anyone in the house.” As for the phone call, he said he contacted Desarro because he didn’t like how the conversation ended with his mother and he was serious in his offer to help Desarro.

The ruling noted that menacing by stalking is defined as engaging in a pattern of conduct that knowingly causes another person to believe the offender will cause physical harm to the other person or cause mental distress to the other person.

In this case, the first incident occurred during the home inspection and the second incident was the phone call.

Lyle-Opalenik ruled that Desarro failed to meet his burden of proving that Smith engaged in a pattern of conduct as described in the law.

“The phone call was neither threatening nor harmful. Petitioner testified he did not feel threatened with this phone call. According to petitioner, respondent stated to him that he could see petitioner going down the same path as his son and he could reach out to him for help,” she wrote.

“Without proof of two qualifying incidents closely related in time, the court is unable to grant petitioner the relief sought,” the ruling said.

A criminal trespass charge remains pending against Desarro in county Municipal Court for allegedly entering the Cadmus Street home while it was condemned.

Charges also remain pending after a case against Desarro was bound over for consideration by the county grand jury related to the execution of a search warrant at the Cadmus Street home on Feb. 12 by the Columbiana County Drug Task Force.

The search yielded over 1,000 grams or 1 kilo of suspected counterfeit pressed fentanyl pills disguised as prescription Percocet. Agents also found roughly 56 grams of suspected cocaine and more than $7,000 cash. The notice about the drug raid noted that additional charges were pending lab results.

Desarro was previously convicted of trafficking in drugs, two counts possession of drugs and tampering with evidence dating back to 2020. He was sentenced to 20 months in prison and ordered to forfeit $2,769.