GovernmentThe Northern Westchester Examiner

Code Enforcement Officer Files Suit Over Sign Stealing Claims

Rick Pezzullo

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Yorktown’s code enforcement officer is fighting back over allegations that he wrongly removed a political sign from a candidate’s property earlier this year.

Jason Zeif filed a lawsuit in state Supreme Court in mid-July against Jann Mirchandani and two media outlets for defamation, slander and libel.

Yorktown Code Enforcement Officer Jason Zeif

According to legal papers obtained by Examiner Media last week from Zeif’s Bedford Hills-based attorney Charles Scheld, on Apr. 2, 2024, Mirchandani, a Democratic candidate running in a special election for supervisor against Ed Lachterman, contacted the Yorktown Police Department and “verbally accused” Zeif of unlawfully entering her property on Parker Lane and removing one of her campaign signs.

Mirchandani further alleged, according to the lawsuit, that Zeif’s actions constituted official misconduct by claiming they were both “biased in nature and politically motivated.”

Zeif maintained in the litigation that the accusations made by Mirchandani were false and exposed him to “public hatred, contempt, ridicule and disgrace,” and “were made negligently, recklessly and maliciously with intent to destroy (his) impeccable professional reputation in the community.”

Following an investigation by Yorktown police, Zeif claimed in the lawsuit that the sign he removed was on property owned by the town.

However, on Apr. 8, according to the lawsuit, Mirchandani sent an e-mail to Detective Daniel Curtis advising that she still wished to pursue charges against Zeif for trespassing, larceny and official misconduct.

In addition, Mirchandani posted an article and picture of Zeif on her campaign website accusing Zeif of unlawfully removing the sign, according to the suit.

The story was later reported by The Yonkers Times and News12 Westchester, which also are named as defendants in the lawsuit.

Zeif, who declined to comment on the lawsuit when reached by Examiner Media, is seeking compensatory and punitive damages.

Mirchandani, who lost to Lachterman and is now chair of the town’s Democratic Committee, confirmed she had been served with the lawsuit but declined to comment on its contents.

During the campaign, Mirchandani had claimed five additional signs had gone missing but later were retrieved by using a GPS tracking device.

 

 

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