YORKTOWN — Town police arrested a former highway department employee and charged him with harassment after he allegedly posted a cartoon of the highway superintendent on the door to the highway department.

Douglas J. Marinelli, 51, of Yorktown, was arrested and charged with second-degree harassment, a violation, on Thursday, March 4, according to police.

Highway Superintendent Eric DiBartolo called Yorktown police Monday, Feb. 15 at 9:45 a.m. to report the incident, police said. When Police Officer Kenneth Sgroi arrived, he was shown a black-and-white cartoon containing a derogatory caricature of DiBartolo, according to police.

“It had very vulgar, nasty things on it, and we’ll leave it at that to be polite,” DiBartolo said March 9.

DiBartolo said Marinelli, an ex-employee, taped the cartoon on the door. The incident caused DiBartolo to fear for his personal safety, according to police.

DiBartolo said he did not know who the illustrator of the cartoon was until he watched the video from cameras that surround the highway department.

“The police came down, took the cartoon and the video out of our camera and proceeded with the arrest,” DiBartolo said.

Marinelli said in an interview he placed the cartoon on DiBartolo’s door, which he said has a picture of the highway superintendent underneath the words “A****** of the Year.”

Marinelli said he worked for the highway department as a tree cutter for about eight months between 1989 and 1990 but was pushed out. He admits to having a drug problem at the time but said he was at work every day, passed drug tests and did his job.

DiBartolo said Marinelli was given the option to resign after having problems with employment.
It was after Marinelli left the highway department when he blew out the window of the door to the highway department building with an M80, resulting in a year in county jail for the incident, Marinelli said.

Marinelli said he was treated unfairly at the highway department and was given the jobs no one else would do. He was recently diagnosed with a medical condition and said posting the cartoon was the result of having a bad day.

“It wasn’t anything threatening, but they’ll probably give me a fine and an order of protection,” Marinelli said.

Marinelli said he helped DiBartolo install a hot tub in DiBartolo’s house on company time. Now working at the Westchester SPCA, a job he said he loves, Marinelli said he was just looking for an apology from DiBartolo for the poor treatment he received while an employee at the highway department.

DiBartolo said March 10 there is no validity to Marinelli’s statements regarding outside work performed on company time. He said the issue is a personnel matter and he could not go into detail on the issue.

“He had major problems with the company (highway department), and my secretary had an order of protection against him while he was working for the highway department,” DiBartolo said.

Marinelli is ordered to appear in Yorktown Justice Court on Thursday, March 11 at 6 p.m.
NCN obtained a copy of the cartoon, but will not publish it due to its graphic nature.

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