On Nov. 20, Aaron McGee — a losing candidate for Middletown’s School Board in the Nov. 4 elections — was arrested on charges of vandalism and criminal libel resulting from an incident occurring on the night of Nov. 19 in front of Middletown’s City Hall.
McGee, 63, an attorney and longtime Middletown resident with law offices on Main Street, was one of ten candidates running for a seat on the city’s six-member School Board. He had run for that same position in 2002, 2001, and 2000, losing each time.
Sebastian Leoni, McGee’s friend and law partner, says that he took each of those losses in stride. However, he said, this time Leoni reacted differently.
“Aaron seemed really upset on Thursday morning, after the votes came in,” said Leoni. “I think that he really expected to win this time. I mean, he had spent some serious time campaigning. And you’d think that after running so many times, on top of being such an important figure in this community, his name recognition would help him out a lot.”
McGee received 47 votes, the fewest of any candidate for the school board.
On the morning of the 19th, two weeks after the election, Leoni says that McGee showed up to work three hours late, which was very out of the ordinary, according to Leoni. He then left only a half an hour later, citing health problems.
That night, Middletown Police officers were summoned to City Hall by reports of vandalism. They arrived to find McGee filling the sidewalk in front of City Hall with statements written in various colors of sidewalk chalk. He was arrested, and brought to Police Headquarters.
Middletown Police spokesperson Maude Reeve said that McGee was held for only a few hours, and released on his own recognizance.
Reeve’s comments were vague concerning the specifics of what it was that McGee was writing on the sidewalk.
“It is against our policy to discuss the content of the libel in cases like this, in the interest of protecting the victims,” she said. “What I can say is that the content of the writing was sexual, and obscene, in nature.”
While the chalk was washed away by Middletown sanitation crews by five or six in the morning, witnesses claim to have read McGee’s chalked messages before the crews arrived.
“They were written in really big blue, pink, and green letters,” said Mark Greenstein, 34, a store manager in Middletown. “The gist of it was that the people on the school board are into some hardcore stuff, you know, in the bedroom.”
“I read one that said some guy, I don’t remember his name, had committed— indecent acts with, you know, barnyard animals,” Sean Brown, 27, said.
Giovanna Marino, 87, who came across the chalked sidewalk while talking an early morning stroll, voiced approval of the explicit chalkings.
“I don’t know what the fuss is about,” she said. “I thought it was hot—it actually reminded me of some things I did when I was younger.”
While there were rumors of crude drawings being included along with the phrases written on the sidewalk, no one could provide any detail as to what had been drawn.
“Mr. McGee’s actions were clearly those of a sick person. I don’t think that I need to speak directly to his accusations. I think that everyone can understand that they were just the ridiculous ravings,” said a school board member who asked to remain anonymous.
Leave a Reply