Mayor who signed open letter opposing illegal firearms 'ordered police officer to bring 20-year-old man to his house for sex, got him drunk and fired a gun'



A suburban Pennsylvania mayor has been charged with holding a 20-year-old hostage in his house, plying him with wine and firing a gun while intoxicated.



Marcus Hook Mayor James 'Jay' Schiliro was arraigned Thursday on a slew of charges, including reckless endangerment, unlawful restraint, and furnishing alcohol to a minor, among others. He was later released on $50,000 bail.

Schiliro, 38, has been asked by the Marcus Hook Borough Council to step down, but he refused to comply with the request, saying through his attorney that he intends to fight the charges against him.



Public servant: Marcus Hook Mayor James 'Jay' Schiliro turns himself into Linwood District Court in connection with an incident in which he allegedly fired a gun during a drunken encounter with a minor

The allegations against the mayor, who is a single father, stem from an incident that happened on February 21, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported.

According to court documents, Schiliro sent a text message to his 20-year-old friend and later ordered a police officer to pick up the underage man and drive him to the mayor’s house in a squad car.



The alleged victim said that Schiliro offered him three glasses of wine and asked him to perform oral sex on him 20-30 times during the encounter.



The complaint states that Schiliro later pulled out three handguns and was waving them around. At one point, the 38-year-old father allegedly put a pistol to his head and said 'he didn't want to live anymore,' according to court papers.



Schiliro, who was allegedly drunk by that point, fired one of the guns into the floor and told the 20-year-iold that he was a hostage, according to the alleged victim who told police that his host's actions made him fear for his life.

Bizarre encounter: Court documents state that Schiliro had a police officer bring his 20-year-old friend to his house on Green Street (pictured), where the mayor ended up firing a gun

Court documents show that Schiliro allegedly told his guest that his 13-year-old daughter was asleep upstairs.



Eventually, the young man was able to escape unharmed from the house of the man who had been a father figure to him up to that point.



Schiliro's attorney, Michael Malloy, said both he and his client learned about these allegations for the first time during today's arraignment. He pointed out that the mayor's friend is now 21 years old.



Drunken antics: The alleged victim told police that Schiliro told him that he is a hostage and at one point put a gun to his own head

Since the incident, Schiliro entered a treatment program for a severe alcohol addiction and has been receiving counseling, Malloy said.



Schiliro, a Republican, was elected in 2009 to a four-year term as mayor of the borough with a population of 2,397, which calls itself The Cornerstone of Pennsylvania.



Last November, Schiliro ran for Congress in the Pennsylvania House District 159, but lost to long-time Democratic incumbent Thaddeus Kirkland.



In an Ironic twist, Schiliro was one of 600 mayors who signed on to an open letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid from Mayors Against Illegal Guns, a collation organized by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Examiner.com reported.



‘We mayors strenuously oppose any federal attempt to strip cities and states of the authority to set our own public safety laws,’ the missive states. ‘Doing so would threaten the safety of our citizens by putting loaded guns in the hands of people who are too dangerous to qualify for a local permit.

‘And it would put our police officers at risk by making it far more difficult to distinguish law-abiding gun owners from dangerous criminals.’

Disturbing twist: During the encounter with the minor, Schiliro allegedly told him that his 13-year-old daughter (pictured) is asleep upstairs

Last February, Schiliro added his signature to another open letter that was sent to two state senators and two Pennsylvania congressmen urging them to oppose a legislation that would allow the National Rifle Association to challenge local laws requiring reporting of lost and stolen firearms.



In 2012, Mayor Schiliro was invited to attend President Obama's State of the Union address as the guest of Rep. Patrick Meehan.