The governor’s neighbors at his Abington Township home say the security fence is illegally occupying part of their yard.
Governor Josh Shapiro’s Abington Township neighbors have filed a lawsuit against Shapiro and his wife, Lori, over security upgrades to his personal residence.
Following the arson attack on the governor’s residence in Harrisburg while Shapiro and his family slept inside, the couple have pursued substantial security upgrades to both residences.
The lawsuit was filed on Monday in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. The neighbors, Jeremy and Simone Mock, are accusing the Shapiros of illegally occupying part of their yard for an eight-foot security fence built last summer.
The Mocks are asking that a federal judge order the Shapiros off their property, referring to the fence as an “outrageous abuse of power.”
The Shapiros filed a countersuit in Montgomery County Court of Common Pleas on Monday. The countersuit asks the judge to declare that the disputed piece of property has been theirs for years.
The Mocks say the planned location for the fence is on their property and unlawfully violates their rights, according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit says that the Shapiros first approached the Mocks in July to discuss the construction of the security fence near the place where their yards meet. The Shapiros were interested in purchasing or leasing part of the Mocks’ property for the fence.
The lawsuit says the couples could not agree on a price for such construction to take place on the Mocks’ property. In late August, the Shapiros’ attorney told the Mocks that a piece of land would be obtained through “alternative actions.”
“What followed was an outrageous abuse of power by the sitting Governor of Pennsylvania and its former Attorney General,” says the complaint.
The lawsuit says that the Shapiros told the Mocks that they owned the land through adverse possession, a legal mechanism that allows a person to gain ownership of a property they have actively used for at least 21 years. The Shapiros have lived in their Abington Township home for 21 years.
According to the lawsuit, the Shapiros then began planting trees and other plants on the Mocks’ property. They allegedly flew drones over it, threatened to remove healthy trees, and “chased away” contractors who came to work on the Mocks’ property.
The complaint alleges that the Shapiros’ offer to purchase the land shows that they knew it did not belong to them.
“The Shapiros continue to occupy the Mock Property without permission or any legal justification whatsoever,” says the lawsuit.
“The Governor looks forward to a swift resolution and will not be bullied by anyone trying to score cheap political points, especially at the expense of his family’s safety and wellbeing,” said Will Simons, spokesperson for Shapiro, in a recent statement.
