'These buildings belong to us now': Career criminal fills 3 NY homes with squatters, assaults real owners
BROOKLYN, NEW YORK: Two outraged Brooklyn landlords claim that a violent career criminal who faces a charge of attempted murder grabbed their investment homes and filled them with illegal occupants, according to the New York Post. A lawsuit claims that despite being intimidated and attacked by the residents and making many calls to the NYPD, Mohammed Choudhary and Boysin Lorick were forced to deal with the city's overburdened Housing Court in order to evict those living in the three deteriorating properties on Neptune Avenue. According to documents, they could be fined more than $370,000 by the city Buildings Department for unlawful possession and other infractions.
Speaking to NewYork Post, an angry Choudhary said, "It’s a big mess and it’s a very dangerous situation." For an investment, the duo, who together make up 35 NEP LLC, paid $1.3 million for 3506, 3508, and 3514 Neptune Ave in May 2019. In court documents, the landlords said that Peter Fonseca, 45, was residing in the garage behind 3508 at the time and resisted moving out. According to court documents, Fonseca was detained in October 2019 for sexually abusing a juvenile. The arrest gave the landlords the opportunity to lock the houses.
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Then, in 2020, COVID-19 shutdowns left the owners stuck and the residences unprotected, forcing them to spend months away from their properties. The owners found Fonseca back in September 2020, along with a few individuals who claimed Fonseca was their landlord. "You have no business here," according to the lawsuit, Fonseca allegedly told Lorick. "These buildings belong to us now."
Fonseca and his "tenants," according to Choudhary, 70, and Lorick, 75, have allegedly threatened and physically abused them. Between May 2019 and November 3, there were six arrests in or near 3508, including one for domestic violence and one for narcotics possession. During that same time, there were also almost 150 911 calls involving 3508 and 3514 Neptune, according to the police. After Fonseca claimed to have been residing there for months, the NYPD declined to remove the squatters and instead referred Choudhary and Lorick to civil court.
The real landlords, meanwhile, have been charged $37,000 in fines by the Buildings Department and might be subject to an additional $370,000 in costs, New York Post reported. A Brooklyn Housing Court judge ultimately sided with Choudhary and Lorick on November 1 and ruled that Fonseca should be evicted later this month. The two are currently suing the city in Brooklyn Supreme Court for an order to stop the infractions and to have either NYPD or DOB agents accompany them when they attempt to enter the homes.
Since 1997, Fonseca has been incarcerated and released multiple times on state charges related to car theft, violence, and attempted robbery. In the sexual assault case, where it was claimed that Fonseca abused a girl under the age of 17, he was found guilty and given a year in prison in June. He was charged with attempted murder in September for allegedly serving as Anthony Johnson's getaway driver in March after Johnson allegedly fired at a rival in Brooklyn but missed. Fonseca is currently on a $500,000 bond and a $300,000 cash bail after entering a not-guilty plea.