Greece official allegedly stole from town for family home improvements

Update: The Town of Greece announced Wednesday evening that Michelle Marini "retired from the Town of Greece effective as of Monday June 24, 2024 at 5:00 p.m."

The release stated that town officials are cooperating with the investigation. The original story continues below.

The former Greece deputy town supervisor is accused of stealing from the town to get work done on her house and those of her children.

Michelle Marini faces multiple felonies in an indictment unsealed Tuesday.

It was not immediately clear what town resources were used. The charges state she used “goods and services in relation to work done” at three properties. A separate news release from the District Attorney’s Office states that the charges stem “from her involvement with the development and construction of the Greece Community and Senior Center, now referred to as The Center at Greece Town Hall.”

The indictment handed up by a Monroe County grand also includes allegations that Marini unlawfully used a GPS tracker on a Greece town resident.

Michelle Marini was deputy to Town Supervisor William Reilich since 2014, before transitioning to director of constituent services in December, a position she still holds. The five-count indictment includes felony charges of corrupting the government and grand larceny, and a misdemeanor charge of official misconduct. The grand larceny charges allege Marini stole over a thousand dollars in goods and services for work on 35 Knightbridge Circle in Penfield in March 2022, 232 Torrey Pine Lane in Greece in August 2022, and 28 Blue Ridge Road in April and July 2023. The Torrey Pine property is formerly Marini’s home, while the other two properties were the homes of Marini’s children.

A message left with Marini was not immediately returned.

Records do not elaborate on the tracking device. But that accusation has been levied by a local town complaint Facebook page operator.

Ryan Murphy, a 42-year-old ironworker, runs a page called Town of Greece Uncovered that provides a forum for residents to complain about town issues and levy allegations of misconduct against the town administration. Murphy had called out Marini in December, levying the same allegations as found in the indictment.

“Based on some information I received back in the spring I started investigating cost overrides on the community center,” Murphy wrote. “I was given a tip that Michelle Marini was having work done on her house and her kids houses and having it billed to the community center project.”

Murphy discovered a GPS tracking device in the wheel well of his truck in March. He had searched for the device after receiving a warning from his attorney Maureen Bass. Murphy gave the tracking device to the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office. Both Bass and Murphy suspected the device was placed by the town.

“The only place that I can think of that it realistically could have been put on my vehicle was the town board,” Murphy said, in an interview in April. “That’s the only place, because doing construction, I’m all over the place with where I’m going, times, parking situations.”

This isn’t the first time town officials have been accused of misusing town resources for such reasons. In a federal complaint last year, Greece’s former Deputy Commissioner of Public Works Bobby Johnson alleged he was forced to provide unpaid mechanic work at Reilich’s “Hot Rod Ranch” and install Ring cameras at Marini’s home.

“This is another domino falling,” Murphy said of Tuesday’s indictment, “and that’s a very good thing for the town of Greece.”