SETTLEMENT CLOSES 3-YEAR SIGN THEFT CASE AS ZIEG & CLAVIER PLEAD NO CONTEST

A prolonged legal battle spanning more than three years came to a quiet close on Monday as former Marathon city councilman Dan Zieg and his partner, current city clerk Diane Clavier, switched their initial pleas of “not guilty” to “no contest” in the 2019 theft of a sign outside former city councilman and current planning commissioner Mark Senmartin’s business.

According to Monroe County court records, as part of the Jan. 23 settlement, adjudication of guilt will be withheld, and Zieg and Clavier each is required to pay $223 in court costs, $40 in investigation costs and $250 in prosecution costs, for a total of $513.

Zieg and Senmartin have a contentious history throughout their time on the council, but this particular legal feud began when Senmartin posted a sign reading “Drop Doc Zieg” outside his Cash Flow Jewelry and Pawn shop in Marathon’s Town Square Mall ahead of the November 2019 Marathon City Council election, in which Zieg was reelected to the council to serve with Senmartin.

On Nov. 25, 2019, surveillance camera footage showed Zieg’s car in the shopping center’s parking lot. In the video, Clavier exits the vehicle, takes down the sign and puts it in the open car window before the car drives away. 

After initially offering amnesty if the sign – which he valued at $25 – was returned, Senmartin eventually filed a police report two days later when he said he received no response to an email sent to Clavier. Clavier contended that she was on vacation at the time and had eventually sent an email to Senmartin offering a $25 check as compensation for the sign, which had already been collected by garbage services.

Following police questioning, in which Zieg and Clavier admitted to taking the sign, the pair were charged with a second-degree misdemeanor for petit theft and were booked into the Marathon detention center on Dec. 8.

The settlement comes as the case was about to head to trial after three years of delays, partially hampered by the COVID-19 pandemic, and repeated motions to continue or dismiss the case as a political matter by Zieg and Clavier’s attorney, William J. Heffernan.

Zieg and Clavier maintained that Clavier was within her right as a city employee to remove what they believed was a political campaign sign as more than 10 days had passed since the city council election on Nov. 5. They viewed the charges as retaliation for an ethics complaint filed by Clavier against Senmartin when Senmartin privately trademarked the city’s seal and offered to sell it back at a cost of $1 plus the cost of registration ($87.50).

Senmartin, meanwhile, said the sign was commissioned and given to him by someone else. He said he viewed it as an expression of free speech, not a political sign, and therefore did not need the language required by law on political signs to disclose who paid for the message.

He also stated that he had not yet opened the Florida Commission on Ethics’ letter to him – dated Nov. 27 and sent via certified mail – when he filed his police report on Nov. 29, and that his intention in trademarking the city seal was an effort to protect it from others who might do the same and “hold the city hostage.”

The Marathon Weekly reached out to Zieg, Clavier and Senmartin for comment, but had not heard back as of press time.

Alex Rickert made the perfectly natural career progression from dolphin trainer to newspaper editor in 2021 after freelancing for Keys Weekly while working full time at Dolphin Research Center. A resident of Marathon since 2015, he fell in love with the Florida Keys community by helping multiple organizations and friends rebuild in the wake of Hurricane Irma. An avid runner, actor, and spearfisherman, he spends as much of his time outside of work on or under the sea having civil disagreements with sharks.