The wife of a lobbyist accused of threatening to kill an IT worker after he failed to fix a computer says the worker lied to police. News4’s Chris Lawrence reports.
A computer technician told police a customer armed with a gun refused to let him leave the customer's home until his computer was fixed -- but the accused attacker's family say that never happened.
Joseph Mondello, 50, was arrested after a worker told police Mondello got furious when the worker failed to fix his computer in his home on the 2700 block of S. Grove Street, in Arlington, Virginia.
"You're not leaving until you fix this," the worker told police Mondello said about 11 a.m. Monday. He then pulled out a gun and said, "I'm going to kill you slowly," the worker reported.
Mondello's wife, Lisette Mondello, got between the two men and the worker ran out to call 911, investigators say. Mondello, who "allegedly had a gun in his possession," according to police, was charged with abduction and felony use of a firearm.
Lisette Mondello admitted she and her husband were frustrated when the worker couldn't fix their Dell computer, but said her husband never pulled a gun.
"It's just something that's such a lie!" she said through tears.
Lisette Mondello said the "gun" in the house was a wooden toy in a box of childhood items on a shelf.
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"It was a Walt Disney World pirate replica," she said. "You know, those little pirate fake wooden guns that they used to have at Pirates of the Caribbean back in 1976."
Mondello, who runs a lobbying firm, appeared in court Wednesday. He posted bond, his wife said, and is due back in court in March.
"It's like a nightmare and we can't wake up," she said.
