The Village of Liberty Police Department arrested Jhakem Degroat, 31 of
Monticello for the fourth time in almost two weeks. All of these arrests stemmed from
incidents surrounding his stalking and harassing behavior of an employee at a local
bank in the Village of Liberty.

Liberty Police were first called to the bank in May of 2023 for a report of an
individual who was conducting themselves in a suspicious manner and harassing one of
the bank’s employee’s. Investigation revealed that Degroat had sent an inappropriate e-
mail to the employee. Degroat was advised to cease all contact with the bank and
employees and was served with a Trespass Affidavit barring him from going to the
bank for any reason.

On September 28, 2023 Village of Liberty Police were again called to the bank
because Degroat was at the location in violation of the Trespass Affidavit and was
causing a disturbance throwing items inside the bank. Degroat was taken into custody
and charged with one count of trespass. He was arraigned in the Town of Liberty Court
and in accordance with New York State Bail Reform Laws he was immediately released on his own recognizance to appear in the Town of Liberty Court at a later date.

On September 29, 2023 the Village of Liberty Police Department again arrested
Degroat after an investigation into his conduct surrounding the bank and one of its
employees, and charged him with stalking in the 4th degree, a misdemeanor. He was
again arraigned in the Town of Liberty Court, and in accordance with New York State
Bail Reform was again released on his own recognizance to appear at a later date in the
Town of Liberty Court. The Town of Liberty Court also issued an order or protection in
favor of the bank employee at that time barring Degroat from having any contact with
the employee and ordering him to stay away from the employee.

On September 30 th , 2023 the Village of Liberty Police Department responded to a
report that Degroat was again back at the bank in violation of both the trespass affidavit
and the Town of Liberty Court Order. He was immediately taken into custody by
officers and charged with criminal contempt in the 1 st degree a felony. Degroat was
again arraigned in the Town of Liberty Court and in accordance with New York State
Bail Reform was, for a third time, released on his own recognizance to appear at a later
date in the Town of Liberty Court.

On October 13, 2023, the Village of Liberty Police Department again responded
to a report that Degroat was back at the bank in violation of the trespass affidavit and
the Town of Liberty Court Order. Bank employees had called Liberty Police and
reported that he showed up at the location and threw items from an employees desk
around the office. Degroat was immediately taken into custody by Village of Liberty
Police. He was charged with criminal contempt in the 1st degree, a felony, harassment in
the 1st degree, stalking in the 4th degree, criminal tampering in the 3rd degree,

misdemeanors and trespass, a violation. Degroat was arraigned in the Town of Liberty
Court and remanded to Sullivan County Jail in lieu of $30,000 cash bail, $60,000
secured bond and $90,000 partially secured bond.

Criminal charges are merely allegations that a defendant has committed violations
of the criminal law, and as such they are not evidence of guilt. All defendants have
a presumption of innocence and are entitled to a fair trial, during which it will be the
burden of New York State to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt