No one expected much to happen at the first court date in Joe Fontana’s fraud and breach of trust case and it didn’t. But the mini-shit-storm that erupted on Twitter was a lot of fun to watch and it had nothing to do with the case itself!
The proceeding was scheduled for a tiny courtroom and as reporters gathered outside the court manager said only one reporter would be allowed in. This “pool reporter” was chosen when the manager said “pick a number between 1 and 25.” Seriously! So instead of the Free Press reporter who broke the story getting to go inside, a radio reporter and former colleague of mine at AM980 was selected. Everyone else had to wait outside for him to come back and tell them what happened.
Chip Martin, the Freeps reporter, set off a barrage of frustrated 140-character rants culminating with, “If they’d let me into the courtroom I wouldn’t have time for all these angry tweets!”
This is our Mayor and he is facing criminal charges of fraud, breach of trust and uttering forged documents. Surely the court could have foreseen media interest in this case. The case was put over until February 26th when, hopefully, there will be a bigger courtroom set aside.