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He claims the town of Greece harassed him over his social media posts. Now he's suing in federal court.

Greece Town Hall, Town of Greece.
Max Schulte
/
WXXI News
Greece Town Hall, Town of Greece.

A Greece man claims town officials upset over his social media posts put him and his family under police surveillance and harassed them with threatening letters and by shining a spotlight on their house.

Ryan Murphy filed a federal lawsuit on Friday seeking unspecified damages.

Murphy runs the Facebook page Town of Greece Uncovered, on which residents primarily complain about taxes, neighborhood issues, and alleged malfeasance in government. He had received blowback from the town leadership and, early last year, alleged someone from the town government placed a tracking device on his truck.

That allegation ended up being one of the charges lodged against Michelle Marini last June, the day after she retired as deputy town supervisor. Marini also was accused of stealing town resources to perform work on her children's homes. Marini is set to go to trial next month.

In the lawsuit, filed Friday, Murphy alleged his social media posts led to the town “beginning a campaign of harassment and surveillance of the family, interrogating his neighbors, causing a GPS tracker to be placed on the Murphy family vehicle, monitoring the movements of the Murphy family vehicle 24/7.”

The complaint levies allegations against the Town of Greece, Marini, town outside labor counsel Karlee Bolaños, and the private investigator firm Cass and Morales Investigative Services.

Murphy, in a phone call said the harassment became so bad that he had to put constant surveillance on his wife and two teenage daughters.

“My kids had to wear (expletive) body cameras when they walked the dog,” Murphy said. “That’s how bad it was.”

He claims Bolaños hired Cass and Morales on the town’s behalf to monitor his activity.

The town’s actions made it difficult for Murphy, an ironworker, to maintain his employment, and caused his family to suffer —including his wife, Bethany, needing ongoing psychiatric care, according to the complaint.

“Bethany and Ryan Murphy’s daughters have also experienced increased anxiety, stress and panic attacks,” the complaint reads. “These minor girls have lost partial enjoyment of their lives as they now feel they are under surveillance and are, at times, in fear of leaving their home.”

But Murphy said the core issue, though, is the chilling effect he believed the town’s actions had on free speech.

“I even had people drop anonymous letters in my mailbox, people were terrified to be made public,” Murphy said. “That’s what this is about. It’s not about me or my family, as screwed up as things were. It’s about all of those individuals that had to go through all of those steps, and all of those things, to protect themselves and couldn’t speak up.”

Murphy is represented by attorney Maureen Bass, who also represents former town deputy commissioner of public works Bobby Johnson. Johnson had sued the town in 2023, claiming he was used as unpaid labor on Town Supervisor William Reilich’s classic car collection, dubbed Hot Rod Ranch.

Reilich did not immediately return a request for comment.

Murphy is suing on nine counts, including violations of his First Amendment right to free speech, violations of his Fourth Amendment right from unlawful searches, and violation of his Fourteenth Amendment right to equal protection and due process.

Gino Fanelli is an investigative reporter who also covers City Hall. He joined the staff in 2019 by way of the Rochester Business Journal, and formerly served as a watchdog reporter for Gannett in Maryland and a stringer for the Associated Press.