A pair of New York squatters are now demanding to be named “heirs” to an abandoned $900,000 Long Island home they have occupied after reportedly tricking a judge into granting them rights to the residence.
Twenty-nine-year-old Denton Gayle and 19-year-old Margaret Grover have been accused of terrorizing their North Hempstead neighbors while squatting in the home. They have even parked a Porsche in the driveway — seems like they could afford rent.
Porsche-driving LI squatters ask to be made ‘heirs’ to zombie home https://t.co/kR1XtmoRtP pic.twitter.com/fu7hJasfdu
— New York Post (@nypost) April 6, 2024
Gayle and Grover were kicked out of the home last October after being reported for having their son living in unlivable conditions without working bathrooms, heat or electricity. But a Nassau County judge later allowed them to return after they showed documents claiming a rent agreement with the previous owner, who had been dead for years.
The couple then produced a lease last July with the owner’s faked signature. Attorneys for the U.S. National Bank Association noted the obvious discrepancy, but the squatters had already been permitted to move back in.
The same judge who was duped by the pair last year has now issued an eviction notice against them. But the lengthy legal process means the squatters can continue occupying the home for now.
The squatters’ attorney, William Igbokwe, claims they only want to “do the right thing” and have their “voice and testimony” heard as the courts determine what happens next.
These clear violations of Americans’ property rights have been making the news a lot lately, with squatters outraging — and concerning — citizens with reports of more and more brazen attacks on what homeowners have spent their lives securing for themselves and their families. The issue is an important one, but it is only a symptom of an increasingly lawless society and the consequences of passively allowing the circumstances to continue.
