Pilferer busted for trying to steal Flatlands home
BY BEN BRACHFELD
A Brooklyn man is facing
burglary and grand larceny
charges over an attempt
to steal a Flatlands house he
once lived in, using an underhanded
strategy of deed theft
that has left many others
across the borough devoid of
their dwellings.
James Effi watt, 64, was arraigned
Tuesday in Brooklyn
Supreme Court on an indictment
alleging he transferred
the deed to 36 Hubbard Place
— a three-story, two-unit
abode where he once lived —
to a trust under his control,
despite being unable to claim
legitimate ownership over the
property, which is assessed at
a value of $759,000, according
to prosecutors.
“This defendant allegedly
fi led a fake deed in an unlawful
attempt to take ownership
of his landlord’s property,”
said Brooklyn District Attorney
Eric Gonzalez in a statement.
“Title theft is a serious
crime that deprives hardworking
people of the single
most important asset any
American can hope to own.
As real estate values continue
to rise dramatically in
Brooklyn, I remain committed
to protecting homeowners
across the borough from
fraudsters who would steal
their security and investment
COURIER L 22 IFE, JANUARY 14-20, 2022
in the future.”
The wannabe house-pilferer
moved into the building’s
attic in 2017, but soon
stopped paying rent and was
eventually ordered to vacate
from the premises by the
city, which claimed the attic
was unsafe for residential
use. Effi watt ignored that order,
but was fi nally evicted
in 2019 when the Department
of Housing Preservation and
Development arrived and
boarded the attic. Effi watt
returned a few months later
and attempted to intimidate
the building’s other tenants,
but otherwise went AWOL for
a year.
In March 2021, Effi watt
came back to Hubbard Place,
this time changing all of the
building’s locks, destroying
surveillance cameras, and
removing some of the other
tenants’ belongings, according
to court fi lings by the
building’s legitimate owner,
Shifra Salamon. He went on
to tell the tenants that he was
the building’s new owner and
that rent should henceforth
be paid to him; he handed out
keys for the new locks and notifi
ed Con Edison that he was
the new owner.
When Salamon called the
cops, she said, Effi watt produced
a document purporting
to show that the LLC
registered as the building’s
owner, Hubbard Estates LLC,
had transferred the deed
to the “Ayonkladd Trust,”
which is controlled by Effi -
watt. The deed is a forgery
and the trust is a phony, Salamon
said in an affi davit, but
the purloiner successfully
conned the NYPD into believing
he was the proprietor, and
the police refused to remove
him from the site.
The huckster subsequently
returned to the attic
and resumed squatting there.
Meanwhile, the other tenants
subsequently stopped paying
rent owing to confusion over
who to make out their checks
to, Salamon claims, and Effi -
watt has allegedly been trying
to sell the house for a
cool six-fi gure payday. Salamon,
through Hubbard Estates
LLC, fi led a civil lawsuit
against Effi watt in March of
this year; litigation is ongoing.
Effi watt, who is representing
himself in the matter,
says that the property is his
because Salamon defaulted
on debt to him, and produced
an array of documents with
city and state entities purported
to prove his legitimate
ownership of 36 Hubbard.
Salamon says the debt
and the documents are all bogus,
claims to which the DA
agrees.
Effi watt could face up to 15
years in prison if convicted.
He is being held on $25,000
bond or $10,000 cash bail, and
is due back in court Feb. 15.
Deed theft remains a stubborn
problem in Brooklyn,
especially in Black neighborhoods
undergoing gentrifi
cation; residents in brownstones
and other homes that
have seen massive upswings
in value in recent years are
frequently targeted by unscrupulous
scammers who
underhandedly trick them
into selling their house for a
fraction of their real value, after
which the new owners fl ip
them for what they’re worth
on the market and walk away
with a massive profi t.
The city recorded 3,000
deed fraud complaints between
2014 and 2019, with a
little under half of the claims
originating in Brooklyn.
Mayor Eric Adams, formerly
Brooklyn Borough President,
has referred to the practice as
a massive “transfer of wealth”
out of communities of color.
36 Hubbard Place. Google Maps
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