The West Village “grifter” who lived rent-free for 3 years in one in every of NYC’s priciest neighborhoods, partly by exploiting New York’s eviction moratorium, has lastly been given the boot.
Kate Gladstone, who additionally makes use of the identify Katherine Klein, was evicted from proprietor Valentina Bajada and Heidi Russell’s two-bedroom Barrow Road pad Thursday, in an hours-long spectacle attracting a small crowd of staff and neighbors.
The saga started in June 2019, when Gladstone moved in along with her baby, paying $2,000 for a room within the house on a month-to-month foundation. Comparable flats within the neighborhood can hire for $7,000 and up.
Nearly as quickly as Gladstone moved in, Russell requested her to go away, so she might give the spare room to her personal mother, who wanted surgical procedure.
However Gladstone refused to budge and stopped paying, in line with courtroom information.
Russell went to courtroom to oust Gladstone in December 2019, alleging in authorized papers the lady took over the lounge, toilet and kitchen, wrote “weird messages instantly on the partitions,” eliminated smoke detectors, and accused her of stealing.
Gladstone ultimately agreed to go away by March 31, 2020, however bought a reprieve when then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo issued the COVID-19 eviction moratorium.
In August 2020, a determined Russell, who spent days wandering the streets along with her poodle to keep away from Gladstone, sued in a bid to get her out, prompting a entrance web page in The Put up.
Gladstone’s face was plastered on posters across the neighborhood, with the phrase “#WestVillageGrifter” and a warning to different residents to “please alert your neighbors.”
Russell tried to vary the locks when Gladstone left for a couple of weeks one summer season, solely to have a Housing Courtroom choose order her to let the freeloading tenant return.
Gladstone’s habits solely bought worse, claimed Russell, who mentioned her undesirable roommate sprayed chemical compounds, recorded her, and blasted music.
By July 2021, the courtroom greenlit a warrant to evict Gladstone, however required a standing convention first. Gladstone claimed monetary hardship, which paused the case for months. In March, Gladstone filed a state Emergency Rental Help Program software, which once more halted the eviction effort.
On Aug. 5, freed from pandemic guidelines that tied the courtroom’s fingers and with Gladstone’s ERAP bid denied, Housing Courtroom Choose Evon M. Asforis ordered the eviction to go ahead, noting Gladstone had made life “insufferable” for Russell.
Within the three years residing there, Gladstone — who has a pending 2019 prison case for forgery and grand larceny after allegedly stealing an ex’s bank card to pay for resort rooms — paid solely a single month’s hire.
It’s the third West Village residence she’s been accused of squatting in through the years.
On Thursday, an hour earlier than metropolis Marshal Robert Renzulli arrived with a locksmith to implement the ten a.m. eviction, Gladstone snuck out the constructing’s again exit, ignoring questions from The Put up.
Renzulli entered the house to seek out Gladstone, 46, had left behind her teenage daughter and tiny canine, a Cavalier King Charles named Joyful, as she ostensibly sought yet one more reprieve from the courts.
NYPD officers then warned Gladstone to return again for her daughter. Ultimately, she returned, shielding her face and refusing to reply questions.
“I've combined feelings,” Russell mentioned Thursday, as she fearful that Gladstone would accuse her of stealing her belongings.
Gladstone “has used each angle she will be able to consider to keep away from leaving,” Russell and Bajada’s legal professional, Arthur Schwartz, wrote in a single authorized response.
It's not clear if the Thursday eviction is the ultimate chapter: Gladstone is due in courtroom Monday as she once more appeals to get again in.
Her lawyer didn’t reply to a message.
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