SQUAT SQUAD EVICT
Cops boot Porsche-driving duo amid 'phony lease' furor
A Porsche-driving pair of accused squatters who allegedly duped a judge to get legal rights to a home they didn’t own were evicted this week when Nassau County sheriff ’s changed the locks and removed their belongings — including a big-screen TV and their luxe ride.
Deputies knocked on the door of the Brussel Drive home in New Hyde Park around 8:30 a.m. Friday, escorting Denton Gayle and Margaret Grover out and watching as they loaded a moving truck.
The couple, who also share a toddler son, put their dog Daisy in the Porsche as they emptied the two-story Cape Cod, which had been in foreclosure for a decade and abandoned for years after members of the family that owned it died. Gayle and Grover turned up at the dilapidated home last year, said irate neighbors who claimed the couple harassed them.
Squalid conditions
They were arrested in October after a 911 caller, concerned for the couple’s child, reported squalid conditions.
A Town of North Hempstead building inspector’s report deemed the structure, which had no heat, electricity, hot water or working bathrooms, “unlivable.”
Gayle, 29, and Grover, 19, then went to Nassau Housing Court, and claimed to Judge Christopher Coschignano they had signed a rent-to-own agreement in July with the owner, Edward Iacono — even offering a lease with Iacono’s “signature.” Coschignano ordered they be allowed to return.
But Iacono had died in 2016. And son Edward Iacono Jr. died in 2018.
Furious neighbors went to court, submitting death certificates to Coschignano and asking for the order to be vacated. Last month, Coschignano agreed after Gayle and Grover failed to offer proof of their claims.
They also sought to be made “heirs” to the property, records show.
A lawyer for the couple, who appealed Coschignano’s decision, insisted to The Post earlier this month that they are not squatters and that they believe they signed a valid lease in July with a man they thought was Edward Iacono.
A message regarding the eviction was not immediately returned.
“Our residents deserve to live in a safe and peaceful community and the troubling issues at 39 Brussel prevented that,” said North Hempstead Town Councilwoman Christine Liu, who visited the home Friday morning as the eviction was underway.
“Myself and my colleagues at the Town of North Hempstead were happy to assist the residents [to] finally resolve this matter.
“We thank the Sheriff’s Office for executing the eviction today.”