PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) — A legal fight appears to be playing out between Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro and his neighbors in Montgomery County.
Both have filed lawsuits against each other.
In a federal lawsuit, Jeremy and Simone Mock accuse the governor and his wife of illegally occupying part of their Abington yard to build an eight-foot security fence.
“Governor Shapiro exercised his power by virtue of state law and made possible only because he is clothed with the authority of state law,” the Mocks’ suit said, adding his disrespect of their shared property line “violates clearly established constitutional rights of which a reasonable person, much less a lawyer and former Attorney General, knew or should have known.”
Millions of taxpayer dollars have been spent on security efforts at the governor’s homes after his Harrisburg residence was firebombed last April.
The Shapiros filed a countersuit, asking a judge to rule that the land is on their property.
The Shapiros have spent more than two decades “believing it to be their property,” and it wasn’t until a security review of his homes following the arson attack on his official residence last year that “it was discovered” the roughly 2,900 square feet of land in question actually fell outside their deed, Shapiro said in a countersuit filed in the Montgomery County Court of Common Pleas.
A spokesperson for the governor called the Mocks’ lawsuit a “shameless political stunt and attempt to exploit the Shapiros’ legitimate security concerns.”
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