I thought there was a thread about this case but I cannot find it.
Two notes:
1) BTR1701 will now apologize to the "legacy media" because without
sympathetic stories to the victim, nothing would have happened.
2) I am using "squatter" under protest, hence double quotes. The criminal
WAS NOT a squatter. This is a legal term that has to do with hostile use of property THAT HAS BEEN ABANDONED, which was never the case here. Instead,
the case involved a man who committed a series of crimes to attempt to
control the property, including breaking and entering (and there was
some sort of fraudulent subtenancy), who fraudulently claimed to be a
tenant which prohibited the property owner from turning off utilities or changing locks under municipal code. (The legal property owner brought a locksmith and a tv news crew to video that the locks were changes. She
was then arrested. She's still under charges.)
Fortunately for the victim, the defendant hired an attorney who is worse
than any defense attorney we've ever seen in movies or on tv. He lost
his temper in court, blaming legacy media for coming in and "whoop-
whooped up the whole big to do!" It must have been glorious to witness
this defense attorney's idiotic ranting at the media, both during the
bond hearing and after.
The attorney claimed he would have been released on his own recgnizance
(to pull the scam elsewhere) but the judge imposed a protective order
that he couldn't be on her property. He didn't have to put down cash bail
for the bond, and he wasn't being held in pre-trial confinement at the
jail. He's in pre-trial confinement at home.
I guess that's something.
There's a Steve Lehto video but he's quoting Fox News, which clearly did
no reporting. Here's reporting:
https://nypost.com/2024/04/18/us-news/queens-squatter-who-rented-out-rooms-in-womans-home-arraigned-on-burglary-other-charges-da/
https://abc7ny.com/queens-douglaston-squatting-legal-battle/14493528/
https://abc7ny.com/squatters-standoff-queens-new-york-city/14540298/
BTR1701 is wrong. Legacy media, when doing its job AND NOT putting a
political spin on reporting, is quite important indeed. In this case, it
forced the hand of a reluctant prosecutor's office when police refused
to help the victim.
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