Squatter gets a new home in jail

The Squatter's Borough

 

 

 PIX News 

 Unwanted visitors are residing in the long-closed Triple Crown Diner in Bellerose, according to members of the local business community.

Joe, who runs a restaurant across the street, told PIX11 News the squatters enter at night via a rear staircase that leads to the roof: “You’ll see people just randomly walking out of there. I pay close attention. You’ll see a lot of garbage stacked up right there.”

 Behind the diner, there’s a shed with a mattress on the ground. The identity of the alleged squatters remained unclear as of Friday afternoon. 

 “I know it has been reported to the 105th Precinct and it’s been reported by them that they’ve come and located an opening in the ceiling, the roof, that they’ve covered with plywood,” said Richard Hellenbrecht, the treasurer of the Bellerose Civic Association. “For anyone to get inside and squat in the diner is really terrible.

Another business owner, Jack, told PIX11 the neighborhood has recently seen some changes for the worse.

“Well, they shouldn’t be living there. They’re vagrants. It ruins our business – it runs the businesses in the area. Sure, it bothers you, but what can you do about it?”

 

PIX News

 Construction of a new community center in Queens serving young adults with special needs is well underway – and long delayed, says property owner Young Seh Bae.

It’s all thanks to a squatter identified by the Sheriff’s Office as Sean Johnson.

Investigators said he set up camp in the now demolished home that once stood on a lot in the fall of 2022, and then illegally claimed residence after being there for more than 30 days.

 “They just broke into the house using the back door,” said Bae.

The Sheriff’s Office also confirmed marshals recovered a gun from inside the home where Johnson was squatting, adding he was not present to be taken into custody.

“They caused a nightmare for us. There were people coming and going. They would come on to our side of the sidewalk to intimidate us,” said Angela, who lives across the street.

Mayor Eric Adams on Tuesday said he supports updating squatters’ rights, which were originally enacted to help protect against bad landlords.

“There was a reason that squatters’ law was put in place. And I think people are starting to exploit what some of those reasons are,” said Adams.

Under current New York State law, squatters are considered tenants if they have had possession for 30 consecutive days or longer.

Bae said it ultimately took more than six months and six-figures in legal fees to finally reclaim the property her family rightfully owns.

“It was very frustrating, not only mentally but financially. I have to say about $100,000,” said Bae.

State Sen. John Liu acknowledged his newly proposed legislation may not be useful to responding police officers, but he added it will help homeowners in a courtroom.

Liu’s bill clearly defines a squatter as someone who enters onto a property or building without title, right, or permission…”

The bill bans them from accessing a tenant’s rights and protections under the law, and states squatters do not get any rights, even after 30 days of possession.

““New York State law, as it pertains to housing and property, it’s not the easiest thing — no question. We need to erase any kind of ambiguity in our state laws, and this bill will do just that,” said Liu.

PIX News

Queens residents spoke out with frustrations Wednesday about a run-down property in their neighborhood that they say is attracting squatters.

“Sometimes the front door is actually creeped open. For years, people have just been coming in, dumping garbage,” said Kamran, describing the neglected house next to the home he’s lived in since childhood.

When Kamran says “years,” he means more than a decade. During that time, he and his neighbors say there have been squatters coming in and out of the run-down home.  

The home, located at 245-04 Union Turnpike in Bellerose, is barely visible behind the tall brush. Lydia lives within eyeshot of what she says is an eyesore.

 “When I see people there that I know are squatters, or they don’t belong there because it’s been empty so long, I just call 911,” said Lydia.

This is the third time in the last week PIX11 News has reported about a suspected squatting situation in Queens, from a now torn-down home in Bayside, to squatters who allegedly entered through the roof of the closed Triple Crown Diner – also in Bellerose.

 PIX11 News took Queens Borough President Donovan Richards on a virtual tour of the property Wednesday.

The tour included a growing collection of New York City Department of Sanitation tickets issued to the registered owner – Jan Robert Fortin – who has no listed number and whose son did not answer PIX11 News’ phone call requesting comment.  

“So how do we resolve this issue? We need a change at the state law. Yes, enforcement is one key piece of it. OK, they are going to end up on Rikers on a trespass charge possibly. I also have to allude to the fact that we are in a housing crisis, and people are squatting largely because we are in this crisis,” said Richards.

The good news? About an hour after PIX11 News started reaching out to multiple agencies, including the health department, Housing Preservation and Development, and the buildings and sanitation departments, a sanitation supervisor arrived at the house to assess the situation.

Judge orders squatters to GTFO

 

  NY Post

A judge has dismissed a lawsuit brought by a pair of alleged squatters who sued the owners of a $930,000 Queens home after cops escorted them off the property last month.

“The case is over,” the couple’s attorney Rizpah Morrow told reporters outside Queens Civil Court Friday, shortly after Judge Vijay Kitson discontinued the case with prejudice, meaning the claim cannot be refiled.

“The landlords, the owners, own the house, they have possession. The people who said they were locked out have walked away from the situation. They are no longer requesting to be restored to possession and we still have their stuff,” she said.

The two men did not show up for their scheduled court appearance.

One of the home’s owners, Juliya Fulman, told reporters that although they prevailed in the case, the systemic issues it highlights remain, making it a hollow victory.

“Right now, there is a very big problem with these criminals and these squatters. Lawmakers need to make laws in order to protect the people, the citizens,” she told The Post outside the courtroom.

“These criminals are trying to drive people out of New York, and that is not going to happen,” she continued.

“I still don’t feel like I have the full justice in this case because there are people who broke into my house. They claimed they had property there. I would like to know how they got property there.”

The couple had spent over half a million dollars renovating the Jamaica residence as an investment property. Fulman told The Post last week that she incurred thousands of dollars in legal fees defending the ownership of her home.

“I want justice. I want these people to come forward. I want them to say how they got into the house, how their belongings got there, and yeah, it would be very good for them to reimburse us for all of our time and legal fees, so coming here today I don’t know if we accomplished much,” she said.

The suit, filed March 14, had claimed the men were unlawfully removed from the residence, which they said they were legally renting from Fulman and her partner Denis Kurlyand since January.

More invasion of the house squatters

 

Daily Mail

These are the latest victims of New York's 'insane' housing laws that have given way to a wave of absurd squatting incidents where homeowners find themselves forced to go to court to kick out brazen would-be tenants. 

Denis and Juliya are a married couple who invested $530,000 in a property in Jamaica, Queens, several years ago. 

On March 5, a broker they were working with visited the property for a site check before allowing tenants to move in and found the locks had been changed. 

Inside the property was Lance Hunt Jr. and Rondie L. Francis, who had set up mattresses, a flat screen TV and a massage table. The men claimed to have legally leased the property months earlier and refused to leave. 

Now, the homeowners are locked in a legal battle with the pair after the alleged squatters hired an attorney to sue them. 

An emergency lockout hearing was held on Friday March 22 at Queens County Civil Court after the squatters' attorney, Dennis Harris served the couple, the realtor and the real estate company. 

During the 1pm hearing, Rizpah Morrow, who is representing the homeowners asked Judge Vijay M. Kitson for a trial on the grounds that the two men acted in an unlawful manner.

'They perpetrated a fraud,' Morrow told the judge.

The judge told her that she is entitled to a trial, and said 'let them come to court and testify.'

But when the judge asked their attorney where his clients were, Harris told the judge one of them 'had to go to work.'

At this point Ejona Bardhi, the real estate broker with Top Nest Properties, who was also representing the homeowners in court, intervened and told the judge, 'he left because he did not want to get arrested.' 

Denis and Juliya asked the judge if their new tenants could move in before the next court date. The judge agreed but warned them it may complicate the case. The next court date is April 5. 

After the hearing was adjourned and the chambers doors were closed, Lance Hunt, Sr., the father of the second alleged squatter Lance Hunt, Jr., who told DailyMail.com his name was Michael, walked into the court house. 

He tried to enter the judge's chambers but the court officers told him the session had ended for the day. 

Denis told DailyMail.com he is outraged by what is taking place. He said that he and his wife had to take off a day of work and spend $4,000 on an attorney fees.

'I'm being sued for illegal lock out, and for damages. They uploaded fake documents and they have an attorney and notary that are working with them to scam innocent homeowners in Queens,' he said.

'They are targeting empty homes especially the ones listed on the market and the home owners are not protected. 

'I intend to pursue them criminally as well as start a class action lawsuit against the city for failing to protect us.' 

He added: 'This has to be stopped.'

Denis on the phone waiting for the court hearing to start as Rondie L. Francis, one of the alleged squatters, stands behind him 

Bardhi said she first noticed that one of the locks had been changed on the doors on March 1. At first she assumed it may have been done by the former management company, until they told her they did not touch the locks,

When Bardhi went back to the property on March 4, she noticed the other set of door locks had also been changed, and then saw a dark figure in the window.

'I saw a man wearing a black hoodie holding a drill in his hand,' Bardhi recalled.

Alarmed she called police and the homeowners and waited in her car for officers to arrive. While she waited, she noticed more men emerge. She said they started circling her car that was parked in front of the Lakewood Avenue property.

‘They were trying to intimidate me,' she said. 'It was bizarre.'

When police arrived the men told them it was their property and they had been living there since January. Bardhi disputed their claims and said she was just at the home a day prior with a housing inspector.

When officers asked the men for proof of residency, they did not have anything to show, but told the cops they were YouTubers, and left peacefully.

Once they were out, Bardhi and the homeowners were going to place new locks on the door, but the officers told them if they do they will get arrested. 

Upon learning that Bardhi and the homeowners said they were 'enraged' 

She told DailyMail.com: 'The police tells us that they have rights that was the ridiculous part.'

 

Squatter restorative justice

Council Member Paladino gets smoke blown at her by squatter next door

There’s a known squatter house in my district at 20th Ave and 146th street in College Point. This morning I viewed the house and confronted the squatters personally.

This will not stand on my watch. Homeowners have rights and our neighborhoods deserve better. More action coming. pic.twitter.com/8Qtr6y5cnr

— Councilwoman Vickie Paladino (@VickieforNYC) August 15, 2022

Airbnbullets

 

Queens Chronicle

Shots were fired at a group of teenagers’ car as they rode along 38th Avenue and 209th Street in Bayside early last Saturday morning, the New York Police Department reported. One passenger, 19, suffered a gunshot wound to the right side of his back. He was rushed to NewYork-Presbyterian Queens and as of Monday was in stable condition.

According to Capt. John Portalatin, commanding officer of the 111th Precinct, the group of teens, at least one of whom is from Nassau County, were looking for parking near an AirBnB party at approximately 2:50 a.m. when a group of four to six individuals began firing rounds at their car.

An arrest has not been made in the incident, nor is the shooters’ motive known; the investigation is ongoing. Portalatin added that the NYPD is still looking for video footage of the shooters fleeing the scene.

The NYPD’s 111th Precinct, which includes Bayside, has long been considered one of the safest — if not the safest, alongside the 112th — precincts in Queens or even the city. Saturday morning’s occurrence is the 111th’s first shooting incident this year; the injured passenger is its first shooting victim.

“The police are on top of it, we’re taking it very seriously, and we’re doing everything we can to avoid these incidents in the future,” Portalatin said.

According to the office of Assemblyman Ed Braunstein (D-Bayside), the house where the party in question was held, located at 208-16 38 Ave., has been occupied by squatters for roughly two years, and that they are renting it out on AirBnB. His office told the Chronicle that it has been working to get in contact with the bank that owns the house, which is in foreclosure.

Stephen Markowski lives across the street from that house, and heard the shots fired on Saturday morning — in fact, he initially thought it was fireworks before a neighbor corrected him. He has been monitoring the squatting situation since its beginning.

“Not only don’t they own it, but they’re making money off of it,” he said.

 

 Queens Chronicle

A rally was held in Bayside on Friday to address a recent shooting that took place in front of a foreclosed home that was being used as an Airbnb rental by squatters, according to the community.

 “This has been going on for two years,” said Stephen Markowski, who lives across the street from the house located at 208-16 38 Ave. “They tried to keep a low profile, but we were joking one day that they are probably renting it out on Airbnb. Sure enough there was the house listed on the website, not once, but twice.”

The rental of the home by squatters has been a cause of public safety concern for the surrounding homeowners who live within the 111th Precinct, which has been considered one of the safest if not the safest precinct in Queens, according to the NYPD. Saturday morning’s shooting was the first shooting of the year within the precinct. 

Nearly 20 shots were fired at a car the victim, 19, along with a group of other teenagers rode along 38th Avenue and 209th Street in Bayside as they were going to the Airbnb for a party, according to officials. The victim was later sent to NewYork-Presbyterian on Monday and was in stable condition. 

“Twenty shots,” said Markowski. “What is it going to take for a public official to act on it?”

Robbie Schecter, 74, was out of town during the shooting, but lives around the corner from the foreclosed home. 

“We’ve been here for 43 years,” said Schecter. “We’ve never seen anything like this happen before. It’s an incredibly peaceful place. We take walks around here to go to Bell Boulevard to go to the restaurants. Our kids love to come here to visit us from Long Island because there it’s just a bunch of strip malls. This is a neighborhood.”

Schecter’s neighbor Donald Chen, 73, agreed. 

“I’ve lived here since 1983,” said Chen. “The worse thing that happens sometimes was a set of robberies. We are very close to Clearview Expressway, so it’s easy to get away, but something like this? No.”

The squatting has become a scourge, according to state Sen. John Liu (D-Bayside).

“The transient occupants have held late night parties and threatened the neighbors here,” said Liu. “We’ve seen just last week shootings on this block — could you imagine 19 shots being fired on this block — one shot landing in someone’s stomach. Another landed in a car seat. Thankfully there was no baby in that car seat.”

Liu and Assemblyman Ed Braunstein (D-Bayside) said they have called upon the city, specifically the Department of Buildings to take a look at what is happening at the house and to issue a vacate order. 

The DOB sent inspectors to the home ahead of the press conference, according Liu. He said he is giving them to time to make a determination on a vacate order. 

“We are exploring every option to get these people out of this neighborhood,” said Braunstein. 

Liu said he was demanding that Airbnb stop listing the property. 

Markowski said that the squatters use different names for every time they list the house. 

“Every time we get Airbnb to take down a listing they put one back up,” said Braunstein. “We have also been in contact with the bank to expedite eviction proceedings and foreclosure proceedings. This has been going on for two years now and this past weekend this issue has reached a new level of urgency.”

U.S. Rep. Grace Meng (D-Flushing), who lives a few blocks from where the shooting took place, called into the meeting from Washington, DC. 

“I received calls from some of my neighbors about the horror that happened,” said Meng. “This has been a nightmare for our community. Bullets were literally flying around in the middle of the night. It could have hit any of our family members, friends or neighbors. Airbnb needs to take this problem more seriously, otherwise they have blood on their hands.”

Hours after the rally, Airbnb said that it has cancelled all bookings for that house and will continue to do so in the future, according to the congresswoman via Twitter. She further iterated that Liu and Braunstein will be watching closely to make sure the company keeps its word.

As the rally concluded, former homeowner Joe Carrollo spoke to residents, police and elected officials to clarify that he cannot evict the homeowners himself because the house has been the property of Citi Bank and Bank of America since 2018. He personally handed over documents to the 111th Precinct to prove that he is no longer responsible for the property and said he was equally upset about what has happened to his former home of 15 years. 

He later noted that one of the banks has plans to auction the house on June 16 and who ever takes over the property will become the person who has to evict the squatters unless Citi or Bank of America steps in to evict.

Stephen Markowski lives across the street from that house, and heard the shots fired on Saturday morning — in fact, he initially thought it was fireworks before a neighbor corrected him. He has been monitoring the squatting situation since its beginning.

“Not only don’t they own it, but they’re making money off of it,” he said.

Queens is burning: Inferno disembowels house in South Richmond Hill

 

 

Impunity City 

 

 

 

 

Squatters die in Elmhurst inferno

From the NY Post:

The Fire Department said it received a 5:37 a.m. call for the blaze Saturday at 90-31 48th Ave. It went to a third-alarm at 6:16 a.m.

A neighbor said the three-story house was vacant and that the men who died were squatters.

There were more than 60 people living in the house in early 2020, according to a complaint received by the city Department of Buildings in January 2020 from someone who wanted to rent a room there and “witnessed people using drugs and the whole house smell of marijuana.”

The DOB had issued a partial vacate order in February 2018 because the basement was illegally converted into six living units.

Update: Another person was found dead in the house

Homeless man beaten to death and left on the porch of an abandoned Richmond Hill house

NY Daily News

Police investigating the sad death of a homeless man found on the front porch of a condemned Queens house have slapped trespass charges on three people they found inside the run-down abode.

Officers responding to a call Sunday morning found Pawandeep Singh, 27, dead in front of the house, an ugly and bloody gash across his head. The city medical examiner is still trying to determine an exact cause of death.

Inside the house were Jay Daownanan, 25, Vijendar Brijmohan, 22, and a 17-year-old girl, all believed to be homeless. All three were charged with trespassing.Investigators currently don’t believe they’re involved with Singh’s death, police sources said.

Police spotted blood on a rear window of the house on Lefferts Blvd. by 95th Ave. in South Richmond Hill.

Daownanan, who had a cut on his arm, has no previous arrest record. Brijmohan has previous arrests for resisting arrest, petty larceny and unauthorized use of vehicle.

A fire ripped ripped through the building in 2016, and the city then issued a full vacate order because officials feared it suffered structural damages.

Neighbors Monday said the house had been empty for at least 10 years and that high school students routinely hang out there to drink or deal drugs.

 “A lot of people complain to police," said Gurdeep Singh, 52. "A lot of times police come, look around and leave. A lot of drugs going on. Girls, boys, 10 o’clock at night, in the morning, people coming from school.

Three homeless men perish in abandoned house fire

 

NY Daily News

Three people died when a two-alarm fire tore through an abandoned Queens house late Thursday night, officials said.

The fire broke out at about 11:50 p.m. at a building on Farmers Blvd. at 110th Road in St. Albans.

It quickly went to two alarms.

 The three victims are believed to be squatters, police and fire sources said. City Buildings Department records show complaints about squatters living in the house since at least 2016.

NY Times

For years, residents in Queens had been concerned about an abandoned house in their neighborhood, telling officials the property was unsafe and had become a home for squatters.

Late Thursday, their fears were realized, after a fire ripped through the building in the St. Albans neighborhood, killing three men believed to be squatting there, police and fire officials said.

“That house was boarded up for a while,” said Assistant Chief Joseph Jardin of the Fire Department. “So I can only assume that they were living there as squatters.”

More than 100 firefighters were called to fight the blaze, which started just before midnight in the house’s basement.

While working to bring the fire under control, firefighters found all three men unconscious and unresponsive. The victims, who Chief Jardin said were between 35 and 40 years old, were pronounced dead at the scene. They have not yet been identified.

Four firefighters also suffered minor injuries, including one who fell through the house’s first floor into the basement, officials said.

The fire and a series of deaths of homeless people brought renewed attention to the worsening homelessness crisis in New York City, which has led the city to increase efforts to identify people living on the streets and steer them to shelters.

Barbra Thomas, 45, a subway station supervisor who lives in the area, said that homelessness in St. Albans had become a bigger problem over the past two years, but that she did not consider these men a nuisance.


Neighbors in St. Albans, a middle-class neighborhood, said the house had been a regular stopover for homeless people and squatters for quite some time.

“For years, it’s just been in and out, in and out,” Sulaiman Lamont, 52, said.
Linda Dey, who has lived adjacent to the burned home for 26 years, said that she had complained to city officials “several times” that the squatters next door were selling drugs.

On Thursday night, Ms. Dey had her son call 911 when they began to smell smoke.

As she and her daughter were taking photos of the damage, Ms. Dey said, “We didn’t wish bad, but we knew something bad was going to happen because no one was listening.”

Two squatters injured in Flushing fire

From CBS 2:

At least two people are in critical condition after a fire breaks out at a home in Queens.

More than 100 firefighters responded to the blaze, which started around 2 a.m. Monday at a home on 41st Avenue in Flushing. By the time firefighters arrived, they say the home was engulfed in flames.

Fire officials say the home was vacant, but the two people who get out on their own were squatters who were inside when the fire broke out.

“The fire building is a vacant building, but I am told there were squatters who self evacuated prior to fire department units arriving on the scene and they were transported to the hospital by our EMS,” McSweeney said.

Claremont Terrace apartment house has become a zombie

From the Queens Chronicle:

Councilman Danny Dromm (D-Jackson Heights) said Dr. John Ko promised him last February that long-delayed work at 1 Claremont Terrace in Elmhurst would be done in one year.

Thirteen months have passed, and the lawmaker says the unfinished, graffiti-covered apartment building abutting the Long Island Rail Road tracks is still in the same unsightly condition.

“It’s become a zombie apartment building. It’s just horrible,” Dromm told the Chronicle on Monday. “Our patience has come to an end.”

The property the building sits on is one of the more historic ones in Elmhurst, as Samuel Lord — the co-founder of Lord & Taylor, the oldest department store in America — purchased the site in 1840, eventually building homes for his four daughters there.

But 12 years ago, the final, decaying Lord home was demolished and construction began on the eight-story building.

But once the shell of it was completed, work seemingly came to a halt.

And in the years since, Dromm said, the site has become an on-again, off-again homeless encampment — “they had tents and everything” — and a magnet for graffiti vandals.

Squatter killed in Richmond Hill blaze

From QNS:

Fire marshals and police are investigating a fire at a vacant Richmond Hill home on Tuesday night where an unidentified man was found dead.

Law enforcement sources said the blaze broke out at around 9:50 p.m. on Sept. 26 inside the boarded-up residence located on 114th Street between 95th and 101st avenues.

More than 60 firefighters and officers from the 102nd Precinct responded to the inferno. After putting the fire, police said, firefighters found the unidentified adult male while searching the dwelling’s second floor.

The man was pulled from the home and pronounced dead by EMS units. His body was transported to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner for an autopsy to determine the cause of death.

According to the New York Daily News, the residence had been vacant for some time, but Buildings Department records indicated that there had been complaints of squatters residing there in recent years.

Richmond Hill block has a squatter problem

From PIX11:

Boarded-up homes in Queens surrounded by garbage are being taken over by dangerous squatters.

"It's a real big danger to my family," said Charles Mahadeo, who lives next door to one of the abandoned homes on the corner of Lefferts Boulevard and 95th Avenue in Richmond Hill.

"There have been two deaths in here, it's a dumping ground, it's very smelly and it's not a very good atmosphere at all around here," he said. "I'm very much concerned this place is very bad for my children and very dangerous, especially with the squatters."

Mahadeo told PIX11 Friday the owner of the home died a few years ago and no one has done anything with the house since.

Right across the street sits another abandoned house and there was a woman inside when we showed up.

She shouted, "I'm not a squatter."

The boarded up houses are among many occupied two and three-family homes.

Help Me Howard enters house the Baileys left

From PIX11:

So Byrne has her home back. It will need work from the damage done: things like holes in a door and another door off its hinges. And she’ll have to check out the plumbing and electrical work.

But the Bailey’s are out. Now, Byrne says she’s going to sell the place.

Jamaica Estates squatters are finally out

From WPIX:

Ex-NYPD cop Winston Bailey and his family finally got the boot from the Jamaica Estates home where they’d been living for more than two years without paying rent.

...On Tuesday afternoon, Feb. 16, the clock finally struck midnight. Time ran out for the Baileys. A city marshal and five NYPD cops showed up to get them out. They were evicted.

Byrne is grateful, but .. there’s always a “but” with these people.

The Baileys went back to court the next day. And according to Byrne, civil court Judge Louis Vilella gave them one hour a day for a week to get the rest of their belongings out of Byrne's house.

Judge Vilella will consult with the judge handling the federal bankruptcy action to make sure he’s not missing anything. And then he’s due to issue a ruling on Feb. 29, presumably a final ruling.

Woman scores eviction against deadbeat ex-cop tenant

From PIX11:

Aida has had to leave her ailing husband and fly up from Miami for court hearing after court hearing trying to get the Bailey’s out. Civil court, housing court, bankruptcy court.

Finally, she has an order telling them to get out. But because the Bailey’s filed for bankruptcy she may not get a penny of the money she says she’s owed.

We’ve been trying to help by getting to the bottom of this.

But you really have to watch the video to see the Bailey’s reaction when we came by. This is what Aida’s had to deal with.

The Bailey’s are supposed to be out by Jan. 15. We’ll see what happens and show you what the home looks like when they presumably depart.

Homeless are sleeping all over LaGuardia Airport

From PIX11:

The homeless population has surged in New York City and now the problem has gone beyond crowded shelters and dirty streets.

More and more homeless are squatting at LaGuardia Airport.

"I think it's the responsibility of the city to make sure that they have actual shelters and can take care of people. They shouldn't be using public facilities like that," airline passenger Vassyl Lonchyna said. "And they shouldn't be cluttering this terminal,"

And while that passenger blamed the city for a poor response at LaGuardia, New York City doesn't actually have jurisdiction within the airport.

According to a spokesperson for Mayor Bill de Blasio's office, "The Port Authority has its own police department and funds a nonprofit to provide homelessness services."

Guy blames dogs for being a squatter

From WPIX:

I’ve never met a squatter like Michael Lindner.

For years, Lindner rented from Lena and Bill Sakirsky in Bayside. They decided to sell their rental property and thought they’d seen the last of their old problem tenant after they paid him to leave by July 1st.

“He got the money, $12,000 for moving out,” Lena told me. “We have a notarized letter.”

Lindner moved out. But when the Sakirsky’s real estate agent went to do a final walk through in the house, she couldn’t open the door. The locks had been changed. And guess who was living there.