PAY ME: 'SQUATTER'
New York’s most notorious squatting story is taking a new twist: The “squatter” at the center of it says he’s the victim — and will get out once he is paid for “upgrades” to the house.
Range Rover-driving Brian Rodriguez told The Post he wants $18,000 to hand back the home in Flushing — and claimed all he was doing was trying to start a “side hustle” to cash in on the migrant crisis.
The bizarre saga began when Adele Andaloro was handcuffed by police after a fiery caught-on-camera standoff as she tried to throw out squatters from the $1 million, four-bedroom home in Flushing she inherited from her parents.
But then the squatters said they were legitimately subletting and paying rent to someone called “Jay” — Rodriguez’s nickname — and therefore were entitled to stay.
Wants reimbursement
Now Rodriguez has told The Post he was scammed into “renting” the house with a fake lease by a bogus real-estate agent, so he’s not a squatter either. And he had planned to fill the property with migrants, wrongly thinking the city would pay him $1,000 a month.
Now he wants Andaloro to pay him $18,000 toward what he has spent on repairing the plumbing, doing electrical work, repainting and cleaning the house.
“I told her that I can’t just walk out; my money is there,” said Rodriguez, maintaining that he will give up on the house immediately — if he gets paid. “I told her that she should let me figure it out or pay me my money. She was furious.”
Andaloro did not return calls from The Post.
As to how he feels about all this, Rodriguez said, “I feel horrible for being conned. That money is everything I have. Of course I feel bad for Ms. Adele.”
Rodriguez’s troubles began, he claimed, last December, when he was in a Flushing laundromat.
Between wash cycles he encountered a well-dressed and confident man, in his early 40s, who called himself “Ronnie Ferg.”
“We started talking about construction in New York,” Rodriguez said. “I brought up a government program in which you can rent out rooms to immigrants for $1,000 per month.”
There is no scheme for the city to give private landlords $1,000 a month to house immigrants. The idea was floated in June last year by Mayor Adams but never put into action. But “Ferg,” claiming to be a real-estate broker and property manager, said, “I have the perfect house for you.”
Loaded with subletters
It was a four-bedroom, two-bathroom, 1,646-square-foot home.
“Ronnie had the key,” Rodriguez said. “He showed me the place. The living room had some old furniture in it: a brown sofa, drapes, a small table.”
Rodriguez signed a lease, which he showed to The Post, for $3,200 a month. No public records exist for a New York broker called “Ronnie Ferg.”
The immigrant deal — obviously — never came together.
“So I rented the rooms to local people who need places to sleep,” said Rodriguez. “They work for Uber and Instacart and can’t afford $2,000 a month for an apartment. Some pay $900; some pay $1,000.”
Moving in, cleaning and repairing, claimed Rodriguez, “cost me 24 or 25 grand.” He detailed the bill as $9,600 given to the real-estate agent; $9,700 on new water pipes; and a total of $4,000 on electrical work, cleaning and painting. “That’s all my money. I rushed into this. Ronnie conned me.”
By February, he had the place loaded up with four subletters.
Rodriguez lived in his own apartment and for a few weeks things went smoothly.
Owner’s return
Then, in late February, his tenants were surprised by a woman who said she owned the home and wanted everyone out.
“I called Ronnie Ferg,” said Rodriguez. “He told me that she is probably a former tenant who wants to get back in the house. He told me to call the police.”
In fact, she was Andaloro, who is the legitimate owner and who was shocked to see people living in the place that she had inherited.
A few days later, Andaloro showed up with a locksmith and a news crew from WABC/Channel 7, leading to the viral confrontation with Rodriguez’s “tenants” — which ended in her being cuffed.
Rodriguez raced over and again phoned “Ferg” for help.
“Ronnie said, ‘I told you what to do’ and he hung up; then his number went dead; I never spoke with him again,” Rodriguez recalled.
“Ms. Adele called the cops. I tried to stop them from [handcuffing] her. Ms. Adele could attest to this.”
Soon after Andaloro’s handcuffing, a man at the house showed The Post two tattered rent receipts that totaled $3,500.
Rodriguez said he would keep the rent and use it towards the $25,000 he had spent.
Asked if he feels like an idiot, Rodriguez responded, “Right.”
Petting a purse-sized Pomeranian that he just bought for $1,000 and named Larry, Rodriguez halfjoked, “I had to get this guy for protection.”
“Now I got to pay for them to leave,” said Rodriguez. “I need a month or two to get them out. I am ready to give the house back to Ms. Adele. I’ll take the L on this one. The house really beat me up.”