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Landlord of Burned Bronx Building Sued to Stop Heat Monitoring

  Hundreds of tenants were displaced after a fire ripped through the top floor of 2910 Wallace Ave. in The Bronx, Jan. 14, 2025.  Credit:  Ben Fractenberg/THE CITY Ved Parkash had 10 properties put in a city housing agency program to track temperatures in chronically cold apartments. One just caught fire, leaving more than 250 homeless.  This article originally appeared in The City. By  Samantha Maldonado ,  Mia Hollie , and  Jonathan Custodio BRONX - The landlord whose Bronx building burned in a five-alarm fire Friday fought the city’s housing agency in court last year in an unsuccessful bid to exit a city program that requires monitoring for landlords with chronic heat complaints. Landlord Ved Parkash owns 2910 Wallace Avenue, a now burnt-out 98-unit apartment building in the Allerton neighborhood of The Bronx, just east of the New York Botanical Garden. That apartment building, along with nine others ...
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Affordable Housing Scammer Pleads Guilty

Stole $27,000 from Housing Seekers


File photo


Threatened to Call ICE


BRONX - A Bronx woman admitted to stealing more than $27,000 in rent deposits from people seeking affordable housing apartments. When she failed to deliver the apartments, she threatened the victims to keep quiet by stating she would have them deported. 


Stephanie Antonio, 27, of East 182nd Street, pleaded guilty September 22, 2022 before Bronx Supreme Court Justice Martin Marcus to third-degree Grand Larceny with a promised sentence of 1-3 years in prison. Judge Marcus ordered the defendant to pay $28,980 ($27,600 plus a five percent restitution surcharge) in restitution in monthly payments to the victims. If the defendant pays the restitution in full, she will replead to Petit Larceny and will be given probation, instead of serving time in prison.


“The defendant took deposits from people desperately looking for an affordable apartment and never delivered a key and finalized lease,” said Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark. “Not only did she steal more than $27,000 from nine people, but she also threatened several of the victims that she would call immigration authorities to have them deported. She pleaded guilty and has been ordered to pay restitution or face jail time. We will not tolerate these deplorable rent scams that hurt Bronx residents.”


According to the investigation, between May 17, 2019 and September 30, 2019, Antonio told victims she was an employee of a property management company and that she was a licensed realtor. Although she was briefly employed by the property management company, it was only to take photos for its Instagram page, and Antonio used that position to gain access to keys for apartments. The victims gave her $2,200-$4,000 deposits for apartments she could not deliver.


According to the investigation, Antonio intimidated multiple victims by threatening to call U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and have them deported if they were to go to police. 


In one instance, she filed an assault case against one victim that was later dropped when the victim showed proof that she was working at the time.

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