A Queens woman is suing the city for more than half a million after her home was stolen with a phony deed.
Last fall, Jennifer Merin discovered that some one had moved into her family home and changed the locks. But the thieves told police that they were the legal residents, producing a fraudulent deed.
Merin, 71, claims that the squatter’s scheme would have never worked if city bureaucrats hadn’t given them a deed. She is now seeking nearly $600,000 in damages, according to the New York Post.
“[The city] was negligent in the way in which they allowed the deed to be registered,” a bitter Merin told the Post. “There was no indication that any of those signatures were related to my family or the property.”
The convicted armed robber turned squatter who seized Merin’s home simply presented the city Finance Department with a forged deed, Merin claims. [NYP] – Christopher Cameron