NOT SO HAPPY 'HOME' COMING
‘Hell’ roomie returns – with cops
An alleged roommate from hell, who has been accused of squatting and wreaking havoc in a West Village apartment for more than a year, returned to the digs on Sunday — armed with an NYPD escort.
Kate Gladstone — described in court papers as a “serial grifter” who has become a menace to the co-op apartment’s owners — arrived at the Barrow Street address in a police SUV at around 2:30 p.m.
Two uniformed cops escorted Gladstone into the building, with one carrying a Housing Court order that was issued Saturday night and bars her eviction in light of the coronavirus outbreak.
Apartment owner Heidi Russell, who had sued to oust Gladstone, lamented the move.
“I’m not sure what’s going to happen now,” she told The Post on Sunday.
“I just want my life back.” Russell has accused Gladstone, 44, of taking over the two-bedroom home, accosting and threatening her, stealing her food, letting her dog relieve itself inside and leaving door handles dripping with sprayed chemicals — all while not paying rent.
The homeowner said Gladstone had offered to leave the pad about a week and a half ago — but only for a $24,000 payout.
Russell said she balked at paying the amount to the “grifter” — who, court papers allege, previously refused to leave the Christopher Street home of an ex-girlfriend until she was paid $20,000.
Gladstone arrived at the brick Barrow Street building on Sunday wearing a sleeveless black shift and black Birkenstocks and holding a black satchel that she used to block her face from a photographer. She refused to comment.
Russell, who was not in the home when Gladstone arrived, entered the apartment shortly after to quickly retrieve something, but the pair did not interact, the owner said.
Russell left but said she planned to return for the night.
“I don’t want her to feel she’s won, so if I stay away overnight or [for] longer periods, she’s going to feel she won and just keep taking over the apartment,” Russell said.
Russell has said she and her partner rented out their spare bedroom to Gladstone in June 2019 while the partner was away on an extended international trip.
Gladstone — a divorced mother from Pittsburgh and self-described documentary filmmaker — was to pay $2,000 a month.
But when Russell and her partner said they needed the room back at the end of that month for the partner’s mother, who was recovering from surgery, Gladstone allegedly flew into a rage, setting off a monthslong showdown that still hasn’t ended.
A judge ruled over the weekend that with evictions banned during the pandemic, Gladstone could stay at least until Oct. 1.
It’s least the third time Gladstone has squatted in someone’s home while refusing to leave, court documents allege.