BOARDER WAR
W. Village resident blocked in court struggle to evict a 'squatter from hell'
A West Villager has been tormented for more than a year by a messy, obstinate roommate who has been refusing to pay rent or move out, according to shocking court papers.
Barrow Street resident Heidi Russell’s short-term renter, Kate Gladstone, is a “serial grifter” who has become a long-term nightmare, taking over her apartment, repeatedly spritzing her with cleaning chemicals, and basically squatting for free, the court papers claim.
It’s been so unbearable, Russell often flees her two-bedroom apartment during the day, just to get away from Gladstone.
“She’s turned me into a homeless person during the pandemic,” said Russell.
“I’m out on the street, with my mask and my old dog in a carriage. It’s just taken over our lives.”
Making matters worse, on Saturday a judge ruled that due to the ongoing pandemic-eviction ban, Gladstone is entitled to stay in the apartment for the time being — virtually sentencing Russell to nearly six more weeks with her tormenter.
“This is horrid! Unconscionable!” Russell fumed of the judge’s decision.
The saga began in June 2019 when Russell and her partner, Valentina Bajada, decided to rent their spare bedroom while Bajada was away on an extended international trip.
They offered it to Gladstone — a self-described documentary filmmaker who had stayed with them once before — for $2,000 a month.
But when Russell needed the room for her mom, who was set to undergo surgery, she asked Gladstone to leave by June 30, 2019.
“She flew off the handle, yelling, ‘No, no, impossible, you’re going to ruin my life . . . I’m not leaving,’ ”
Russell recalled.
The incident launched a barrage of bizarre behavior, Russell claims in the Manhattan court papers.
Gladstone installed her daughter in the bedroom and slept in the living room, the papers say.
She accused Russell of scaring her child, allowed her dog to relieve itself in the apartment, stole food and accosted Russell whenever she tried to use the bathroom or kitchen, Russell told The Post.
Gladstone threatened to sue and piled boxes of her belongings in the living room, said Russell, who filed a lawsuit against Gladstone in Manhattan federal court.
Gladstone also sprayed cleaning products throughout the apartment until door handles and doors were dripping with the chemicals, Russell claims.
Russell resorted to using the bathroom at friends’ homes and in nearby laundry rooms after Glad
stone locked her out of her own bathroom.
“Once the pandemic hit, it got worse,” said Russell, claiming Gladstone would spray cleaner at her as she walked through the 650-square-foot apartment.
Cops and local officials have allegedly ignored Russell’s pleas to get Gladstone out, Russell said.
It’s at least the third time the 44-year-old Gladstone, a Pittsburgh native who according to court papers also uses the name Katherine Klein, has allegedly overstayed her welcome.
Victims and court records portray her as a menace in the West Village, where she’s been accused of squatting, harassing landlords and stiffing them on rent.
She’s been arrested twice, once for allegedly stalking and also for forgery and grand larceny after she allegedly stole her ex-girlfriend’s credit cards to pay for hotel rooms in the area. She’s due in court in September on the charges.
Gladstone, who posted a behind-the-scenes clip of Bill Clinton on Vimeo that she captioned, “My day with Bill & Tony & Sara,” was no star to Matt Titus, the celeb matchmaker who rented her his 400-square-foot studio apartment on West 13th Street in 2017.
“She’s just absolutely one of the most vile, terrible human beings I have ever encountered,” said Titus, who accused Gladstone of squatting with her child in his apartment for months in 2017, ultimately leaving him $20,000 in debt and ruining his credit.
“It’s terrible,” said Titus, whose ordeal was described in Russell’s lawsuit.
The divorced mom also allegedly squatted for months in the Christopher Street home of her ex-girlfriend, refusing to leave until she was paid $20,000, according to court records.
Russell, an executive assistant at a private-equity firm in Midtown who got laid off last year, said that with the state eviction ban now in effect until Oct. 1, she doesn’t know what to do.
“No one wants to help me. I’m scared for my safety. I’m financially ruined. They say, ‘Just wait for the ban to be lifted.’ Well, they keep extending it,” she said.
Bajada has steered clear of the co-op, which she owns, in part because of Gladstone’s presence, the couple charges in legal papers.
Gladstone denied the allegations. “I hope you know better than to think that,” she said when reached by The Post, before adding, “I can’t even comment.”
Russell said her fight should serve as a warning to others in the area, noting Gladstone’s affection for the posh West Village.
“I don’t know if she would take free housing, because she wants to live in the Village. She wants the prestige, she wants her child to go to school here,” Russell said.
Russell has gone to city Housing Court at least twice and even resorted to the Manhattan federal court lawsuit in a bid to get rid of her, all to no avail.
Russell thought her ordeal had ended in July when Gladstone disappeared for weeks.
Russell changed the locks, fearful her tormenter may have shared the keys. But when Gladstone returned unannounced and couldn’t get back in, she dashed to Housing Court, claiming she had been illegally locked out.
A judge, who noted Gladstone could have been more “kind” to Russell, agreed. Gladstone is now set to return Sunday, after another judge confirmed the first jurist’s decision, and Russell is fearful.
“If she comes back in here she’s never going to leave,” Russell told The Post.