Rep. Tom Suozzi has condemned the ongoing occupation of a vacant Queens property by an accused repeat squatter who neighbors say has terrorized their tree-lined Bayside block for more than two years.
“This is an awful situation,” Suozzi said Eyewitness News. “A fraudster is wrecking the quality of life for the entire neighborhood. While it’s not a federal issue, we all need to do everything we can do to right this wrong.”
The home at 2340 205th St., valued at $1.1 million, had sat empty since 2018 following the death of Richard Klibschon, a longtime resident who lived alone and had no family. The property remained undisturbed until March 2024, when neighbors first spotted an unwanted occupant who had moved in.
The man living there, Vernon Glass, has been described as an “illegal occupant” in court papers. Residents have reported that his presence in the quiet neighborhood makes them “increasingly apprehensive, uneasy and very concerned.”
Frustrated locals have tried multiple avenues to remove him. They called the police, reached out to elected officials, and even went to court — all without success.
When ABC reporter Dan Krauth recently approached Glass outside the Queens home and asked if he lived there, the squatter replied, “Yes, but I don’t want to be on the news,” before rushing into the house.
A man at the home Sunday kicked the outlet reporter off “his” property and lashed out at local residents, outrageously claiming that the “only thing you should be reporting on is this racist ass block.”
This is not the first time Glass has allegedly pulled off such a scheme. Eyewitness News noted he is also accused of moving into a vacant Nassau County, Long Island home in 2018, where he changed the locks and rented out the property to three people for more than $9,000.
In that case, he ended up getting kicked out and sentenced to five years probation on a misdemeanor in December 2019, reports said at the time.
Glass and a female accomplice allegedly also once took over a home in Flushing “by force” and “without permission,” according to court papers filed in that case. The legitimate homeowners dropped their suit after the house went into foreclosure and their legal bills started adding up.
That earlier case concluded before the squatter believed to be Glass turned up in the quiet Bayside neighborhood, where he has remained entrenched despite the community’s sustained efforts to dislodge him.
The Klibschon property had remained vacant for nearly six years before Glass’s arrival, a period of relative calm that neighbors now recall with frustration as they confront what appears to be a familiar pattern of behavior from an accused con man with a documented history of occupying properties that do not belong to him.
Local authorities continue to face pressure from residents who have exhausted their available remedies while the occupation stretches into its third year.