The former deputy town supervisor of Greece has been charged with corruption, grand larceny and official misconduct, according to the Monroe County District Attorney’s Office.
A grand jury issued an indictment against Michelle Marini on Tuesday over allegations around her involvement with the construction of a community and senior center in Greece known as The Center at Greece Town Hall. A press release from the DA’s office said further charges stemmed from Marini’s position in town, including allegations of “unlawful GPS tracking” of a Greece resident.
The press release did not go into further detail about the allegations. Marini is charged with one count of corrupting the government in the third degree, three counts of grand larceny in the fourth degree ― both felonies ― and one count of official misconduct, a misdemeanor charge.
An attorney for Marini, Joe Damelio, declined to comment.
Marini served as the number two official in Greece for nearly a decade, from 2014 through December 2023, when she moved to Webster. Shortly after, she was hired as the director of constituent services for the town.
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The allegations against Marini fall across two years, from March 2022 to March 2024, according to the DA’s office.
An arraignment is scheduled for July 2 at 9:30 a.m. before Judge Meredith Vacca.
Tracking devices allegedly found on cars of Greece NY residents
Two individuals with connections to the Town of Greece, including a vocal antagonist of the town government, claim to have found tracking devices attached to their personal cars earlier this year.
Ryan Murphy, who created a Facebook page that questions the ethics and workings of Greece officials, said in an interview that he discovered such a device under his vehicle after raising noise in town.
Local lawyer Maureen Bass, who is handling several lawsuits against the Town of Greece, confirmed the discovery of the tracking device earlier this year. She also confirmed that another was discovered on the car of a second individual but declined to provide further details.
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The Democrat and Chronicle was investigating the presence of the trackers when the indictment against Marini was handed up this week. It is not clear yet whether the charges are related to Murphy’s claims.
Murphy has been a critic of the town and his issues with Greece officials arose out of his questions last year about his home assessment. His was rising, at the same time he saw the assessments for some town officials were dropping.
Murphy posted the information on the online Nextdoor neighborhood bulletin board, sparking conversations. In an interview, Murphy said town officials fired back, saying that there was no wrongdoing with the assessments and accusing him of prompting the harassment of some officials.
He was also told by the town that his claims could be legally “actionable.” He was told in a correspondence from a town official to “cease and desist” with the postings.
Murphy said he was eventually blocked from posting on Nextdoor and moved to Facebook, where he started the “Town of Greece Uncovered” Facebook group. “This is a platform for the people that have been silenced and for the voices that have been belittled, abused, taken advantage of and have had their jobs used against them,” reads a claim on the page.
Town Supervisor Bill Reilich has encouraged residents to reach out to him and Town Hall for what he says are inaccuracies and falsehoods on the social media page.
Murphy said that he has also been approached by Greece police for questioning about his activities, a claim supported by an email from a police administrator shared by Murphy with the Democrat and Chronicle.
The email that shows police were trying to discover how Murphy was apparently receiving information about internal police investigations.
Michelle Marini indictment latest scandal in Greece NY
For Greece, the criminal charges against Marini are the latest in what seems a history of scandals, alleged and proven. Each decade seems to bring a new set of controversies.
The indictments come as a series of federal lawsuits against Greece officials are pending, with one claiming that Reilich forced a former town employee, Robert “Bobby” Johnson, to work thousands of hours of unpaid overtime.
The lawsuit alleges that Johnson, who was the town’s deputy commissioner of public works, also did private work for Reilich and Marini. The town is seeking dismissal of the lawsuit.
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Reilich and Marini have a long history together. She worked for him when he was a state assemblyman and followed him to Greece when he took office in 2014.
There are also lawsuits from several former police officials who claim they were targeted in the aftermath of the 2021 drunken driving conviction of former Greece Police Chief Drew Forsythe.
The town has maintained that the claims are manufactured to cover up workplace issues.
In now settled scandals: The town’s past police chief went to prison, as did two police officers, one for a crash while he was coked up, the other for using the power of the badge to coerce women into sex. Those investigations sparked an overhaul of the department and questions about its hiring practices.
And a former supervisor had a relationship with a married woman who, during the affair, was murdered by her mentally troubled son. (There was, police said, no link between the affair and the murder.)