Peace Ofoego has been repeatedly busted for strolling into spectacular properties in Westhampton and making herself at residence.
Stefano Giovannini
The Hamptons has its very personal Goldilocks — a girl who has been strolling into homes within the posh village of Westhampton Seashore, bedding down and spooking residents who pay as a lot as $250,000 for a summer season rental.
In response to Westhampton Seashore Police experiences, Peace Ofoego, 32, has been busted thrice for trespassing for the reason that finish of Might, though she has entered seven properties within the village. In some circumstances, residence homeowners declined to press expenses, in accordance with police experiences obtained by The Submit.
She was first noticed in Westhampton Seashore on Memorial Day weekend, when a resident reported to police “a black feminine carrying a black trench coat and sandals” wandering the yard development website of his four-bedroom rental property a couple of mile away from the village’s prepare station.
Ofoego informed police on Might 29 that she had no identification or bank cards as a result of she had not too long ago been robbed whereas dwelling in Washington, DC. She mentioned she had traveled to New York Metropolis just a few days earlier, and had boarded the Lengthy Island Railroad to Westhampton Seashore, a quiet seaside village of 1,900 residents, to discover a resort room close to the ocean, in accordance with a police report.
After that first “suspicious incident” report, police helped Ofoego discover a native homeless shelter the place she mentioned she wished to cost her laptop “and switch funds to an account.”
However the statuesque wanderer, who is commonly dressed utterly in black, didn’t keep put.
Days later, on June 2, a resident discovered Ofoego on the deck of her sprawling $275,000 eight-bedroom rental on tony Dune Street, and known as police. This time officers charged Ofoego with legal trespass.
She had handed by an unlocked gate that leads from the seashore and entered the home by the unlocked again deck, the place she appeared content material to lounge whereas ready for police to indicate up, in accordance with the report.
“Topic said she was staying at a home down the highway and entered the said residence to ask any person a couple of restaurant to eat at,” mentioned the police report.
Two days later, on June 4, Ofoego was noticed “staying” within the pool home of one other Dune Street property that rents for $34,999 a month, in accordance with a latest itemizing. John Mallon, proprietor of the house, informed officers that whereas he wished to doc the incident, he didn't need to press expenses, in accordance with the police report. Whereas an officer was searching for a neighborhood homeless shelter for Ofoego, “Peace started strolling away,” the officer wrote in his report, including that he warned her that if she stored wandering into village houses she would once more be arrested for trespassing.
“She left the realm on foot,” wrote the officer.
Ofoego spends most days on her toes, strolling by the village and alongside the seashore. Generally she wears the black trench coat and a black knit beanie underneath the blazing afternoon solar. And since she confirmed up within the serene village, the place many residents don’t trouble locking their doorways, police have suggested them to take action.
On the Westhampton Seashore Group Discussion board Fb web page, residents have reported a number of sightings of Ofoego — on the village’s again roads, on Major Avenue, at a gazebo the place bands play within the summertime and on the native marina, the place one resident noticed her dancing within the early morning on the finish of Might.
Up to now, Ofoego has largely refused provides of assist from the police, though she reportedly typically reaches out to locals when she finds herself in a bind.
“Just a few weeks in the past, she approached me in Lidl asking for assist,” wrote Marie Costelli. “She wanted cash to pay for her groceries. As I used to be handing her some money, which she took, a person who could have been the shop supervisor requested her to go away. I felt sorry for her. I hope she will get the assistance she wants.”
One other native was within the village courtroom throughout Ofoego’s look on trespassing expenses earlier this month. She has already had two court docket appearances within the village, on July 6 and July 13, in accordance with the village justice clerk. At each hearings, she refused a public defender, and mentioned she intends to defend herself. Her trespassing case has been adjourned till July 27.
“She was in court docket the opposite day, the identical time I used to be, and she or he was arguing with the decide,” mentioned Liam Anthony DeFronzo on the neighborhood Fb web page. “It appeared to me she is offended with the place she is in life and with the system. Finally, it looks as if she’s on the lookout for a spot to sleep, however after all you by no means know what she may do and it’s not acceptable to interrupt into houses. Does she actually need assist in discovering some type of shelter and is doing this as a cry for assist? I don’t know, however I felt compelled to assist her the opposite day within the court docket room.”
Days earlier, when officers tried to serve her with a subpoena to look in court docket, she informed them they have been harassing her. “I'll sue you,” she mentioned, in accordance with the police report.
Though just a few residents mentioned they've approached Ofoego, many informed The Submit they have been annoyed they couldn’t assist. One described her as “reticent.”
On Monday, The Submit noticed Ofoego strolling by the parking zone of the native firehouse. Carrying a colourful seashore bag, she informed a reporter that she was born in Nigeria, however has lived within the US for the final 13 years. She mentioned she initially got here to the US when she was 19 years outdated, settling in Baton Rouge, La., the place she started learning medical science at Southern College.
Ofoego added that her father is a journalist in Nigeria, and that she was educated at boarding colleges earlier than coming to the US. She mentioned she had left an abusive husband in Florida and made her method to Washington, DC, then New York, the place she was violently pushed down subway stairs in Might. The Submit might discover no file of the incident. She additionally mentioned that her dad and mom in Nigeria have been conscious of her predicament however might do nothing.
“All I would like is just a few easy kindness from strangers,” she mentioned as she walked away. “However nobody cares about me.”
On Wednesday, Ofoego informed a Submit photographer that she didn’t know that entry to the seashores within the Hamptons is restricted to native residents. “I didn’t know there aren't any black individuals in Westhampton,” she added.
Ofoego informed police in Might that she has no pals or household on Lengthy Island, however has at the very least one relative in Louisiana, an aunt. When police known as Ugoo Onyenekwu, she informed them that Ofoego was “shifting round on the lookout for a location the place she might regain custody of her kids who're presently in California,” in accordance with a police report.
It’s not clear what number of kids Ofoego has, however on Nov. 4, 2020, police in Orlando, Fla., stopped her for “failure to register a motorized vehicle” and, in accordance toOrange County court docket information, she had “seven juvenile passengers” in a automobile. Police mentioned she produced “a overseas passport” as identification and failed to indicate up at her arraignment. In 2017, she was stopped by police in Lake County, Fla., and charged with driving and not using a license. Ofoego claimed that she by no means had one, in accordance with public information.
She has lived in a number of locations in Florida over the previous few years, and labored with Marquis Duvuall Hudson, her husband, for an organization known as Meticulous Cleansing Providers in Boca Raton, in accordance with public information. Hudson, now 40, was charged with resisting arrest and assaulting a Florida cop in 2017. He was sentenced to 11 months in jail, court docket information present.
A yr later, he allegedly struck a newly pregnant Ofoego. A day after Christmas in 2018, Ofoego, known as police in Pompano Seashore and mentioned that 5 days earlier, she had a struggle with Hudson whereas they have been placing cleansing provides in a storage locker. Hudson “was accusing her of making an attempt to go away the nation” and the 2 obtained into an argument throughout which “Marquis grabbed her round her throat and commenced choking her.” She informed police that she was having bother respiratory and almost handed out.
“I requested Peace if Marquis is able to killing her or her kids, [to] which she said, ‘sure,'” wrote Tobias Andrews, the police officer who recorded the incident. “Marquis on the time of the battery was conscious Peace is pregnant.”
Hudson was charged with “home battery to a pregnant feminine” however when Ofoego failed to indicate up in court docket to offer testimony, the case was thrown out, court docket information present.
In Westhampton Seashore, Ofoego’s remaining encounter with the police passed off on June 24 at a”quintessential beachfront property” that options seven bedrooms and was listed for hire at $280,000 for July and August. Ofoego walked right into a second-story bed room, startling the proprietor. Police have been known as and arrested her; whereas they have been processing her paperwork on the Westhampton Seashore police division later that night, Ofoego informed cops that they'd been mistaken. She wasn’t trespassing, she mentioned.
“I went inside to have a look at the rental,” she mentioned. “You simply need to arrest me. All I did was search for a rental.”
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