Painesville Municipal Court Judge Michael A. Cicconetti was walking along the new pier at Painesville Township Park at lunchtime April 10 when he had a horrifying thought.
What would happen if someone fell into the water and that life preserver was not there?
Later that day, Cicconetti showed a Geneva High School senior who played a prank at that very park just how serious he is about water safety by giving him a choice of 60 days in jail or spend eight hours a day for four Saturdays in June at Lake Metroparks educating the public about how to stay safe in the water.
Nicholas Hasenauer, 18, was charged with misdemeanor criminal mischief after taking one of two mounted life rings from the Hardy Road park Feb. 28.
Although nobody was injured from Hasenauer’s actions, the judge wanted to send a message.
“It kind of hit home because I had a family member who drowned,” said Cicconetti, who noted the lake temperature that day was likely only 32 degrees. “How long do you think a person would survive? I take this personally.”
Hasenauer then immediately apologized.
“After you saying that, it really puts it in perspective in my head,” he said. “I’ve had friends of mine drown, and it is scary.”
The judge said the teen appears to be a good person who made a mistake.
“My first inclination — and I almost did it had you not come up and showed some remorse to the court, I was going to call Ranger (Tom) Sherwood over here to take your butt down there right now, drop you in that water and then go look for a life saver,” Cicconetti said. “Can’t find it? Now what?! But I obviously could not do that.”
Lake Metroparks Chief Ranger Daniel Llewellyn said he felt the sentence was fair.
“We take this seriously,” Llewellyn said. “Even though it was the end of February, we had a break in the weather. We still had walleye and there were still fishermen down there. It’s a safety issue.”
A juvenile female accomplice is facing charges in Juvenile Court.
As for Hasenauer, Cicconetti is confident of one thing.
“I will almost bet you that this young man will never be in a courtroom again,” he said.
Cicconetti is known worldwide for his creative sentences, such as making a couple who got caught having sex at Headlands Beach State Park take out an ad in the newspaper apologizing to everyone who witnessed their tryst. He also ordered them to clean the entire park — including disposing of all the used condoms lying around.
>> Video: Ohio teen gets unusual sentence for stealing life preserver at public park