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New York

Brooklyn landlord jailed for criminal contempt

Kris Gounden allegedly blocked city workers from making repairs

864 Elton Street (Credit: PropertyShark)
864 Elton Street (Credit: PropertyShark)

A Brooklyn slumlord in East New York who actively blocked the city from trying to improve conditions at his building has been jailed on criminal contempt charges. Kris Gounden, who owns a dilapidated six-unit building at 864 Elton Street, will also have to pay more than $382,000 in civil penalties, according to the ruling by a Brooklyn Housing Court judge.

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Residents at the building have experienced long outages of heat and hot water at the building, the New York Daily News reported, and had to contend with debris in the driveway. When workers from the city’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development tried to step in, Gounden padlocked the basement door so they couldn’t fix the boiler and even blocked access to the boiler’s fuel tank.

As of this week, the building had 295 open code violations — an average of 49 per unit, according to the News. Gounden told the newspaper that he would appeal Judge Kimberly Moser’s decision, but declined to comment further. [NYDN] — Hiten Samtani

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East New York