A Manorhaven resident said he received a homophobic and anti-Chinese letter in the mail and blamed it on one of the village’s trustees at the board of trustees meeting Wednesday night despite not having any proof to support his accusation.

“This has sunk our village to a new low,” resident Richard Li said of the letter he received.

Li, who read the letter written in Chinese, provided copies of the letter with an English translation he created.

The letter read: “Thankfully, no one on Wikipedia wrote that the Honorable Mayor John is president of the National Man-Boy Love Association this year and mailed it to everyone. Good dragon.”

The North American Man/Boy Love Association is a pedophilic group that seeks to abolish age-of-consent laws. The pedophilic organization has widely been denounced by LGBTQ+ organizations.

Li, who is openly gay and Chinese, said the letter was a hate crime against his sexual orientation and nationality

Mayor John Popeleski, who is also openly gay, denounced these claims as well.

Li said the letter was addressed to “Richard Capozzi Li,” referencing the former Manorhaven mayor and his late partner, Nicholas Capozzi. He said while he was in a relationship with Capozzi, he never took his last name.

He said he found the use of his late partner’s last name a “disgraceful, disgusting and disrespectful” attack.

Also included in the letter was a fake $100 bill with “in POPELESKI we Trust” and “VOTE ROW B” printed on it, referencing the row Popeleski and his party were running on.

On the back of the fake bill was a quote from Popeleski printed by Blank Slate Media where he said “Everything we did was legal” in response to a questioned property.

“They think they’re cute?” Li said. “No, this is not cute. This is disgusting.”

Li said he received the letter the night before the village’s election and alleged that it was sent to him by the challenging party, which included Trustee Jeff Stone, because he is an open supporter of Popeleski.

Stone ran against Popeleski in the village’s mayoral race on June 18 but lost to the incumbent mayor. Two newcomers, Rob Swerdlow and Nancy Rozakis, also ran alongside Stone against the two incumbent trustees but also lost.

Li could not prove that Stone or anyone from his party had sent the letter despite his accusations.

Stone denied that he or anyone from his party sent the letter. He said he holds no hatred towards the LGBTQ+ or Chinese community and condemned the hate in the letter.

Swerdlow, who ran alongside Stone for a trustee seat, also backed Stone and said he was also not responsible for the letter.

Stone said Li has targeted him in the past and this is another example. Li has made attacks against Stone at the prior Board of Trustees meetings regarding other issues.

Li said he is filing complaints against Stone to the village’s Ethics Committee, Nassau County Police Hate Crime Unit and the ACLU. He said he would also petition a referendum to remove Stone from the board.

Multiple residents spoke out to denounce the letter and offer condolences to Li, but asked that baseless accusations not be made during the public forum.

“Having an accusation like that, without proof that it actually came from Jeff Stone or the Jeff Stone committee, this is part of the problem today that we have,” resident Mark Garman said. “We can’t do this to each other. We need to respect each other… I condone this behavior. But I also condone if something like this is brought up in a public forum without substantial proof that Jeff Stone did it himself. This is not the place to do it. Personally, I find this whole behavior despicable, period.”

Resident Francesca Zahner asked that the mayor stop accusatory comments like Li’s from being shared at public meetings.

Popeleski said individuals on social media have been targeting him and issued a warning against who is behind it.

“If I find this person on this one website, beware,” Popeleski said. “You’re saying a lot of stuff but you know what? Nobody’s going to do anything. What’s going to happen [is] one day there’s going to be shootings outside and that’s how it’s going to get resolved – the wrong way.”

Li was named on the agenda Wednesday night to also be appointed as the village’s new clerk-treasurer, but the board voted to table the appointment. The vote came before Li presented the letter in the meeting.

Popeleski said a new clerk will be appointed within the next month and a half.