A pair of shameless Porsche-driving squatters accused of duping a judge to get legal rights to a home they don’t own now want to be declared “heirs” to the property.
In what sounded like an April Fool’s Day joke, Denton Gayle and Margaret Grover filed paperwork Monday in Nassau Supreme Court requesting they be “added as heirs” to 39 Brussel Dr. in New Hyde Park, according to legal papers.
A legal heir is typically related to a person in some way.
The two-story Cape Cod has been in foreclosure for more than a decade and sat abandoned after every member of the immediate family which owned it, the Iaconos, died between 2015 and 2018, neighbors said.
Gayle and Grover are not related to the Iacono clan.
The couple claimed they “believe all mortgages [have] been satisified” and requested to be added as a party to the foreclosure proceeding.
Lawyers for US National Bank Association, which is now trying to complete the long-winding foreclosure proceeding on the “zombie” house, quickly shot down the couple’s latest effort in a letter to the judge.
Gayle, 29, and Grover, 19, have claimed they signed a rent to own agreement with owner Edward Iacono in July, even offering a lease with Iacono’s alleged signature.
“A review of this ‘lease’ shows that it was purportedly executed by Mr. Iacono on or about June 1, 2023. However, Mr. Iacono has been deceased since 2016. A copy of the death certificate is enclosed herewith. As such, it is clear the proffered lease is fraudulent and is not valid,” lawyers for the bank wrote in their Tuesday letter asking to toss the couple’s request.
An eviction against Gayle and Grover is pending after Nassau Housing Court Judge Christopher Coschignano ordered them to vacate last month.
Coschignano had paved the way for the couple to stay in December, after they allegedly falsely claimed Iacono rented them the home, then locked them out.
A lawyer for the couple insisted they are not squatters, and that they believe they signed a valid rent to own lease in July with a man they believed was Edward Iacono.
“We’re not trying to play the system or asking for anything unfair, the thing they’re asking for here will allow us to be able to add our own voice and testimony to the record as the Courts try to determine what happened here and what the next steps are,” said attorney William Igbokwe.
