Sponge snob
Bergdorf ‘thief’ socialite hit as squatter, too
A STICKY-FINGERED socialite, busted for allegedly shoplifting $4,000 worth of goods from Bergdorf Goodman, is helping herself to a Fifth Ave. apartment, too, court papers charge.
Melissa Berkelhammer and her mother have been squatting in the Upper East Side home of a TV and film actress, according to court records.
Berkelhammer, 38, and her mother, Jo Ellen Berkelhammer, have been camping out without permission in the spacious onebedroom apartment of “Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps” actress Julianne Michelle Di Palma and ignoring her pleas to leave, records show.
Di Palma, a 30-year-old stunner who also works as a Douglas Elliman real estate agent, locks herself in her room in her own apartment while the Berkel-hammers run the rest of the place, said TV producer Joycelyn Engle, Di Palma’s mother.
Engle, who owns the 930 Fifth Ave. apartment, has filed suit in Manhattan Housing Court to boot the freeloaders. Berkelhammer originally asked to stay for a few weeks during purported renovations at her own apartment more than a year ago, Engle said. And the mother and daughter have had frequent shouting matches while taking advantage of the rent-free digs, Engle said.
They’ve also turned their wrath on their host.
In a recent court filing, Engle wrote that they have “threatened our lives,” are “dangerous people” and have “threatened to burn down (the) apartment.”
Engle said she found the Berkelhammers apartments, including a belowmarket rental in Midtown and another on E. 51st St. recently, but they wouldn’t take them.
“She and her mother will not live anywhere except in a doorman building on the Upper East Side, and they prefer Park or Fifth,” Engle said. Her daughter
is “like a prisoner in her own apartment” and remains locked in her room at all times, Engle told the Daily News.
“It’s a nightmare that doesn’t end,” she added.
According to an agreement signed by both parties, the Berkelhammers agreed to be out by May 15.
Engle said she has offered to pay for movers and a storage company, but they won’t leave.
“They pretended they were going to have storage pick up their stuff, and then storage never came,” Engle said. Jo Ellen Berkelhammer claimed in court papers that “my daughter and I have been charged $2,100 per month in rent, plus a security deposit.”
Engle says they were never charged a dime — and she even loaned them between $500 and $600.
Melissa Berkelhammer could not be reached for comment.