Nearly two dozen unruly squatters have commandeered a vacant $4 million brownstone in Brooklyn, harassing and terrorizing residents and businesses.
The young thugs stole packages from neighbors' porches, threatened passersby, damaged private property, stooped and set off fireworks in the early hours of the morning, neighbors told the Post.
The three-story building at 60 South 4th Street in South Williamsburg was finally emptied this week after police forced the squatters onto the sidewalk. They arrested one of them, 26-year-old Ryan Grewal, on a felony charge for allegedly damaging a motorcycle outside the nearby Jane Motorcycles store, an NYPD spokesperson said. He was reportedly indicted.
Grewal told police he lived at 60 South 4th Street.
“They terrorized this entire neighborhood,” said PJ Jimenez, the building's new manager.
Jimenez said the squatters first took over the entire second floor after breaking into the brownstone on Sept. 21. A door barricade was set up with a wooden plank, and someone had written graffiti on it that read, “Home is where blunt weapons are.''
“When I first came here, I found a bunch of needles. [heroin] a spoon and two used Narcan bottles,” Jimenez said. “So I guess they both must have OD'd here.”
The squatters, including some walking with canes that Jimenez called “tripods,” also stormed a carriage house attached to the back of the building. They then barricaded those doors using corrugated steel sheets. A computer kept inside was also stolen, Jimenez said.
Officers drove into the 6,090-square-foot brownstone home on Monday, and by Tuesday owner Stella Tsang had entered. Bought the building in 2021 In an effort to renovate and modernize it, we placed rotating guards on the porch.
The squatters tried to convince police that they were there legally.
Jimenez, who has lived in the neighborhood for 58 years, said the squatters presented police with a lease allegedly signed by the building's previous owner, Francine Rosado. The date was July 25th.
“The problem is that Francine passed away in 2020,” Jimenez told The Post, showing her Mass Card. “I think she came back from the dead to sign that contract.”
Jimenez said everything inside the brownstone was moved to the sidewalk on Tuesday, and then the squatters showed up in vans to retrieve their belongings.
“They were professional and planned this,” Jimenez said. “And I think they took over the other place because when they got into that van, one of them said they were going home and the other one said, 'Which one?' is.”
This week, The Post toured the 114-year-old brownstone and showed three dirty king-sized mattresses where squatters slept. Graffiti now covers most of the walls, and the squatters urinated in mason jars and defecated in buckets because the building had no running water, Jimenez said.
“It was disgusting,” he added.
From September 21st to October 2nd, the group filed 17 complaints against 311.
“They took two of my bags,” said one outraged resident, who requested anonymity. “I gave the footage to the police and I don’t want them to retaliate against my building.”
“Those stupid kids were always blocking the sidewalk,” said Cordelia Dull, another neighbor who lives a few blocks away from the brownstone. “If you ask them to step aside, they're going to feel really bad.” spoke. “It was loud and it smelled bad. I'm just glad this didn't drag on for months. It happens a lot. I hope they don't come back.”
Jimenez said the squatters should be in prison after trespassing, damaging the building and committing identity theft with forged leases.
“They're bad people doing drugs,” he said. “They're not homeless, they're drug addicts. They're criminals. They're domestic terrorists.”
