CARLISLE - A Spencerport, New York man has been fined $500, placed on probation for one year, and ordered to complete a court-approved cultural sensitivity training for plastering a Jewish center on the Dickinson College campus with antisemitic stickers last January.
He was also ordered to stay off the Carlisle campus without Dickinson’s prior authorization.
At Tuesday’s sentencing in Carlisle, Frank Petronio - the father of a Dickinson student - seemed both ashamed of his actions, and astounded at how much they’ve cost him.
“It was a “smiley-face” Hitler I bought several years ago during the Trump excitement,” Petronio told Cumberland County Judge Matthew Smith. “I was just being a wise guy. And I apologize, and I realize it was incredibly stupid to do.”
But Petronio also voiced shock at the consequences of his act - including an FBI raid of his home and seizure of electronic equipment as agents sought to learn more about his motives; estrangement from his daughter, who turned him in to police; and a pending divorce from his wife.
“I’m paying a huge price,” he told Smith at one point, even expressing frustration that publicity from his arrest is costing him opportunites as a freelance photographer and graphic designer.
Smith expressed some empathy for Petronio’s current situation, but no sympathy for the act.
Petronio, 63, pleaded guility earlier this winter to one count of ethnic intimidation for affixing the stickers bearing a yellow smiley face with a Hitler-style mustache and haircut on windows and doors at the Milton Asbell Center for Jewish Life in the 200 block of West High Street last January.
He also placed a separate sticker reading “It’s OK to be white” on a nearby foreign-language parking sign.
The stickers were discovered on Jan. 23, 2022, as students and staff were returning to campus for the start of the spring semester.
Police obtained surveillance footage from the Asbell building showing the subject, which they eventually distributed publicly. Within short order, they received a tip from Petronio’s daughter identifying him as the poster, and they were quickly matched with photos on his New York state pistol permit.
Noting state sentencing guidelines for the misdemeanor conviction tip the balance against jail time, Smith told Petronio “I’m still not sure you’re getting the point.. You put a whole community on high alert whether you thought it was a random, funny thing or whatever it was.
“If you’re sticking these on an ethnic or religious group’s center they (law enforcement) are going to treat as an incident of domestic terrorism, because how do they know” this wasn’t a red flag or more serious acts to come?, the judge asked.
According to a search of New York state and federal court records, Petronio is facing no other criminal charges.
Dickinson’s student newspaper, The Dickinsonian, reported in December that prior red flags have been raised about Petronio’s social media behavior.
In past Tweets, the campus paper reported, he expressed dismay that Black actors were cast as British characters in a Netflix film, commented on an AI-generated image of Snoop Dogg, “Is this the Hebr3w [sic] Snoop? Make the nose bigger,” and mockingly responded to a Tweet from the official account of the Auschwitz Memorial commemorating a man who died at the infamous death camp.
The comments had led to Petronio being banned from at least one online photography forum, the paper stated, citing an anonymous source.
The import of the case was not lost on Dickinson officials, who thanked police and prosecutors Tuesday for following through on it and issued this statement:
“Any incident of racism and antisemitism is egregious, and we will aggressively pursue prosecution of any such incidents on campus. Hate has no place at Dickinson, nor in Carlisle and the wider community. We are committed to remaining vigilant and making sure each member of our community feels respected, valued and heard.”
Earlier in the case, it was the college’s opposition that barred Petronio from entering a program for first-time offenders that could eventually see the charges dismissed.
Petronio, whose hometown is a suburb of Rochester, declined questions from PennLive as he left court Tuesday.
According to its web site, the Asbell Center sponsors events including high Jewish holiday services, Passover Seders and other religious or cultural gatherings, often in collaboration with other organizations on campus.
Campus officials said about 8 to 10 percent of Dickinson’s student body identities as Jewish, depending on the year.