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NY couple arrested for tormenting Black neighbor for years with blackface, guns and dumping dog feces in yard

The Nassau County District Attorney's Office, on Monday, August 17, charged the couple from Valley Stream, New York, with criminal mischief and harassment

A White couple from Long Island, New York, was arrested after their Black next-door neighbor accused the pair of launching a campaign, spanning many years, of racist intimidation against her. Jennifer McLeggan, 39, who is a registered nurse, also accused John McEneaney, 57, and his live-in girlfriend Mindy Canarick, 53, of throwing feces and a dead squirrel onto her property. 

The Nassau County District Attorney's Office, on Monday, August 17, charged the couple from Valley Stream, New York, with criminal mischief and harassment while Canarick was charged with criminal tampering, a spokesperson for the DA's office said, according to the Daily Mail.

McLeggan, who also shared her ordeal on Twitter, said that her neighbor McEneaney also told her to "go back to where I came from," had his friends spit on her yard, took a blow torch to her house at the middle of the night, and said that she can be "erased." The Black mother posted multiple videos taken from her windows, showing a man throwing something onto her yard and walking around with guns. 

The nurse also accused McEneaney of using blackface and shared a video on her Twitter page, showing the latter appearing to be in blackface and reaching into his jacket. McLeggan claimed that her neighbor was attempted to reach for a gun in his jacket.

The nurse revealed that when she alerted the police of the events, she was told by authorities that they cannot make an arrest unless she is harmed. It was after she took to social media to reveal her ordeal last month, multiple supporters showed up and protested seeking justice for the mother-of-one. 

McEneaney, while talking to Newsday earlier this week, had said that he just wants to "live in peace" and denied any harassment. He said: "I just want peace … All I ever wanted was to live in peace. My family has lived in Valley Stream since 1964 and we've never had a problem with anyone. I wish her and her child well," he said of McLeggan.

The 39-year-old said that when she had moved into the neighborhood, her neighbors gave her a hard time over a supposedly unkempt yard. Things escalated from there over the years. "I bought the property when I was pregnant, and this is the truth, the property was in bad shape," McLeggan told WABC-TV. "I'm trying my best to make every effort to clean the property. I've done my best to clean the property."

The nurse said that she even attempted to keep the area clean and address the concerns of her neighbors. "I mow the lawn, when there's snow out here I'm shoveling the snow by myself," she said. "I'm doing what I can to keep the property clean." However, despite her efforts, she said that her neighbors continued harassing her by throwing dog feces onto her property, which led to fines.

"I kept on noticing dog feces," she said. "I kept on noticing ticket ordinances from the Valley Stream Village town. I keep getting tickets. I keep seeing dog feces. I installed a camera here. I caught my neighbor throwing dog feces in front of my property. I took that video to court, and I won a judgment [of more than $5,000]."

Ever since McLeggan's ordeal made news last month, a GoFundMe page set up for her has already raised nearly $50,000 to assist her in installing a security system at her home. Meanwhile, McEneaney has denied the nurse's allegation that he wore blackface and used a blowtorch in his home in an attempt to intimidate her.