Convicted Felon Given Local Island To Molest

How a non-paying developer with a felony conviction leased Round Lake island

The Photo-News is known to publish letters to the editor from compulsive liars. Jay Westerveld is one of those people. Tony Cardone is another. And so is convicted felon Tim Mitts.

All three men have a penchant for spinning fiction in local Orange County Facebook groups, egged on by their small and—literally in some cases—dying fellow white supremacists.

(We can say that because, at this point, if you’re not concerned about ICE agents all over Monroe, inspecting vehicles of commuters while they’re at work, or kidnapping your neighbors, then you’re a white supremacist. Tony Cardone did nothing to protect these people during his time as Town Supervisor. When asked directly at a Town Board meeting whether he supports what ICE is doing in Monroe, he refused to answer. So did former State Senate candidate Dorey Houle, who is alleged to be instructing Westerveld on what to post.)

So yeah.

It really is that simple now, here in 2026.

Video Above: ICE is seen inspecting the Millpond Shortline terminal's parking lot, looking to match license plates with their ever-growing database that can, and has, caught up over 170 American citizens in their dragnet. Below, days later, ICE can be seen kidnapping yet another member of our community.

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I am telling you all of this because convicted felon Tim Mitts is at the center of a pretty big developing story, and you can’t believe a single word that man says—none. So the usual journalistic practice of trying to get comment from a compulsive liar with an alleged drinking problem goes right out the window.

Thankfully, Tim Mitts published a letter to the editor in The Photo-News, and despite the fact that The Photo-News didn’t bother to fact-check it, I am working to do so.

For now, Mitts’s letter serves as an official, verifiable statement from him that I can share with you. Without having to worry about whether or not it was written on a Bourbon Street bar napkin before they kicked him out for the night. (They close this week, by the way.)

So. Here is what I can share, factually, as of now concerning the island on Round Lake: Yes, the property has been leased to convicted felon Tim Mitts. This is particularly troubling given Mr. Mitts's decades-long, verifiable failure to make payments to a multitude of people across Orange and Rockland Counties. (A simple LexisNexis search for Tim Mitts will reveal the hundreds of thousands of dollars this man owes people.)

So the question now is when, not if, Mr. Mitts is unable to pay his bills, what happens then?

The exact figures and other details of the arrangement are unknown at this time.

We are currently investigating.

You may recall that Mitts was at the center of another controversial set of real estate transactions during his 2024 State Senate Campaign.

Mitts allegedly received favorable real estate transactions facilitated by State Senator Skoufis in exchange for running against Dorey Houle on the Conservative Party line. Thus siphoning votes away from Houle whom narrowly lost to Skoufis in 2022.

Mitts has denied these claims. The State Senator also refuses to comment on this arrangement or why he insisted on toasting Tim Mitts upon announcing to a room full of Orange County Democrats his plan.

Mitts publicly proclaimed in The Photo-News that the land on the island would not be developed. Previously, a wealthy developer wanted to put a helicopter on the island and build a land bridge connecting it to Lakes Road. Whether it’s the same developer with the illegal helipad at 58 Fort Worth is unclear at this time.

Nobody in the Town of Monroe believes Tim Mitts.

This is evident from his failed bid not only to run for Town Supervisor in 2025 but also to unseat Tony Cardone from the Conservative ballot line in the 2025 Primary. So we can statistically say nobody in Monroe trusts Tim Mitts or believes him when he speaks. If they did, they would have supported him. (This lack of support should, I hope, also further prove that Facebook is not reality and you should not take what you see in these local Facebook groups to think they reflect the opinion of the majority. They do not. It’s usually the older, white, racist boomers and the bots who speak the loudest on Facebook.)

Mitts, being petty and vindictive, closed his letter to the editor by saying, “Preserving Monroe one property at a time where our government cannot for the last 10 years.” This was a shot at the current town supervisor—and probably a one-term supervisor after she has to raise taxes to clean up Tony Cardone’s mess—Maureen Richardson. But here, Mitts is wrong, because as flawed as the Richardson administration has been, it’s still not as bad as Tony Cardone and Dorey Houle. And he’s further wrong because if not for Richardson, there would be a super sketchy dinosaur theme park in Town. That was recent history—well within ten years. Meanwhile, the properties Mitts boasts about preserving are allegedly financially underwater.

The one thing we want to make clear in all this: The Town should own that island. The Town should own as much undeveloped property as it can acquire.

We are living through a climate emergency, and our area is prone to forest fires. We need to preserve as much land as we can to protect against this near-term threat (big ass forest fires) and long-term threat (constant flooding).

Preserved land acts as a carbon sink and can help divert rainwater from the stronger storms we’re experiencing.

I’m old enough to remember when Lakes Road flooded once, maybe twice from 1987 to 2012. (This is hyperbole; it probably flooded more than that, but only twice in my lifetime was it bad enough to remember.) Now, whenever we get a severe storm, there’s a threat that it floods. This puts all residents living on this road in danger.

Tim Mitts has routinely complained about the “fake” climate emergency in his numerous social media posts. (What an unsatisfying life one must have to dedicate all your free time and energy to posting on Facebook to an audience that universally mocks and distrusts you.)

I do not trust anything this man says. Neither does the federal government. And even though they’re questionable these days, the fact that we agree on something should encourage you to do the same.

The Town has to act and take that island back before we lose any more salvageable land due to corruption (Cardone and his alleged bribes) and incompetence (Mitts).