The first sign that things were amiss at a home on Lakewood Avenue in Jamaica, Queens, came when a real estate broker listing the vacant property couldn’t enter with a furnished key.
The locks had been changed on the front door leading to a studio unit. And on a follow-up visit days later, on March 4, the broker learned the locks had been changed to a front door leading to an upstairs unit.
Another discovery was made on that visit: A stranger had moved in.
What ensued over the next months — a trove of forged documents, an investigation by the Queens district attorney’s office, and the filing and dismissal of a bogus lawsuit — culminated with a guilty plea on Thursday, ending a home-squatting case in the borough.
Lance White-Hunt, 24, of Brooklyn, pleaded guilty to identity theft in the first degree, offering a false instrument for filing in the first degree and tampering with physical evidence, DA Melinda Katz’s office said in a statement.
As part of a plea agreement, White-Hunt is expected to pay restitution to cover the victim’s attorney fees — for defending against a civil lawsuit White-Hunt filed against the rightful owner and others — and needed property repairs.
“Our first priority with squatters is to get trespassers out of the house,” Katz said. “This squatter’s actions were especially egregious as he brazenly took the legal homeowner to court as part of his bogus claim as a tenant.”
Instances of squatting — typically where an unauthorized person breaks into a vacant property, changes the locks and remains until a court sorts things out — have attracted media attention citywide, particularly in the most brazen cases.
There is some doubt as to how widespread such cases actually are. Nonetheless, legislation is pending in Albany that would make it harder for squatters to use the courts to assert tenant’s rights and frustrate efforts to remove them.
On Lakewood Avenue, the property owner listed the home for rent through a broker at Top Nest Properties on Feb. 23, according to Katz’s office. The broker made several unremarkable visits to the property, until they discovered the changed locks and the squatter himself during the March visits.
When police were called, White-Hunt said he had been staying at the home since January. He provided a purported lease, with the broker and Top Nest Properties listed as the landlords. He also presented purported phone and utility bills.
Katz’s inquiry showed the lease documents were forged, along with the phone and utility bills. Still, White-Hunt filed a civil suit against the homeowner’s limited liability company and others, alleging an illegal lockout.
Those claims were later discontinued with prejudice, meaning they cannot be refiled.
White-Hunt was arrested “at his place of residence” on May 13, according to the DA’s office.
Supreme Court Justice Toni Cimino ordered White-Hunt to return to court on Nov. 6. As part of the plea agreement, he is expected to be sentenced to five years’ probation, 20 days’ community service, and ordered to pay $3,900 in restitution.
Neither White-Hunt nor his legal counsel could be reached for comment.