Hatfield 'Grinch' Menaced Husband With Knife Because of Bad Gifts

Hatfield has a Grinch.

When Hatfield resident Karen Pilat didn’t get what she wanted for Christmas 2011 from her husband, she said “Bah! Humbug!” with a butcher knife.

Pilat, 51, of the 2400 block of Merel Drive, was convicted last week on charges that she menaced her husband with a butcher knife during a quarrel over his “poor gift choices,” according to The Pottstown Mercury.

Pilat was convicted of a misdemeanor simple assault charge stemming from the Dec. 25, 2011 incident inside the home they once shared.

In a non-jury trial, Pilat was acquitted of reckless endangerment, according to the article. She did attempt, through menace, to put her husband in fear of imminent serious bodily injury, but she did not place him in danger of death, according to the article.

In the article, Assistant District Attorney Cara McMenamin called Pilat a “Grinch” due to her anger over poor gift choices at Christmas.

“The argument started after Christmas dinner when she opened her gifts and she didn’t like them,” McMenamin said in the article. “His procrastination and last minute gift choices turned her into a raging Grinch.”

Pilat faces up to one month in jail, according to the article. She is free on bail, but cannot have contact with her husband.

Pilat expected jewelry and a card from her husband. Instead, he bought her an artistic tile and a Bonsai plant, according to the article.

Read more on the trial and incident at this link at The Pottstown Mercury.