MINEOLA, N.Y. (WPIX)—
A slum landlord was arrested and charged Tuesday after officials say he broke into an abandoned home that he didn't own and rented out the apartment to an unsuspecting tenant.According to officials, Ozell Neely, 45, was charged with burglary, grand larceny and three counts of offering a false instrument for filing.
Authorities say Neely first broke into the home in September 2008 when he was working as an agent for Welcome Home Realty. He brought a prospective tenant to the boarded-up, abandoned home where he advertised it as being up for rent. Neely had no permission to enter or rent the property, officials say.
Although there was no running water, doors or a refrigerator, the tenant agreed to pay Neely $2,200 a month for the space on the condition that he would eventually make the necessary repairs to the home.
Neely successfully collected more than $10,000 from the tenant over a period of six months. However, he never made any repairs to the property which resulted in the tenant to stop paying rent.
Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice said Neely went to court to sue the tenant for back rent on property he didn't even have the right to occupy.
"This individual brazenly endangered the life of an unsuspecting tenant and stole from an unsuspecting property owner," Rice said in a statement. "His crime does not rank up there with the most sophisticated and it certainly wasn't the most clever real estate fraud we have seen."
The District Attorney's office launched an investigation after being alerted by the property's real owner in June 2009.
