A New Jersey landlord has been hit with greater than three dozen intercourse expenses for demanding sexual favors from 30 low-income tenants in change for housing assist, prosecutors stated.
Joseph Centanni, 75, of Mountainside was charged final week in a 42-count indictment that features 23 counts of second-degree sexual assault and 19 counts of fourth-degree legal sexual contact, in response to the Union County Prosecutor’s Workplace on Wednesday.
Centanni owned 18 low-income residential rental properties within the metropolis of Elizabeth — every starting from 4 to 100 items.
The creepy landlord allegedly bribed women and men ages 22 to 61 to have interaction in undesirable sexual favors between 2013 and 2020.
“The defendant allegedly solicited the intercourse acts from his victims as a quid professional quo, agreeing to supply them lease reductions, a delay in an eviction, or different types of monetary help in change,” the assertion stated.
“He additionally purportedly threatened tenants who hesitated or refused his advances with eviction or different retaliatory measures.”
Centanni was arrested in June 2021 however stays free on court-ordered pretrial monitoring pending the result of his case.
A 12 months in the past, the Justice Division introduced that Centanni agreed to pay a large $4.5 million to resolve a Honest Housing Act lawsuit that appeared to guard tenants from harassment and discrimination.
Centanni bought all of his properties as a part of the settlement and has been completely banned from proudly owning or managing residential properties. He didn't admit to any wrongdoing in settling the lawsuit.
The settlement was the most important financial settlement the DOJ has ever obtained in a case alleging sexual harassment in housing and settled a federal lawsuit alleging Centanni sexually harassed his tenants over a 15-year interval.
Centanni subjected residents and potential tenants to “extreme or pervasive sexual harassment,” in response to the lawsuit filed by the Division of Justice in 2020.
He allegedly demanded oral intercourse or touched the tenants inappropriately and with out their consent in change for serving to them apply for rental help to remain of their houses.
Centanni and his properties additionally benefited significantly from federal Part 8 housing vouchers, which netted him over $100,000 in Housing Selection Voucher funds every month.
The $4.5 million he has agreed to pay shall be distributed to his victims by way of a compensation fund, in response to the DOJ.
He has additionally settled at the least seven lawsuits filed by earlier tenants in state courts, in response to NJ.com.
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