New York's Office of Deed Theft Prevention a step toward justice for Black families

A Brooklyn resident, Carmella Charrington, served six days in Rikers Island after a Civil Court judge sentenced her for failing to produce her father in court during a property dispute. She said the judge rejected a doctor’s note excusing her father’s absence due to COVID. The day after her release, city marshals and sheriff’s deputies attempted to evict her family from their Bedford-Stuyvesant brownstone, an incident captured on video. A council member who came to support her was handcuffed and later reported a concussion. The dispute became part of a broader fight over deed theft, with the alleged current owner denying wrongdoing. The mayor announced New York City’s first Office of Deed Theft Prevention with a planned budget and coordination across agencies.

"Carmella Charrington, 54, spent six days in Rikers Island jail after Civil Court Judge Rachel Freier sentenced her for failing to produce her father in court in a property dispute. Charrington told Prism that the judge dismissed the doctor's note she brought to excuse her father's absence due to him having COVID. On April 22, the morning after Charrington's release, city marshalls and sheriff's deputies arrived at herfamily's brownstone at 212 Jefferson Ave. in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Bedford-Stuyvesant to attempt an eviction."

"What followed was caught on video. New York City Council Member Chi Ossé, who had come to stand with Charrington, was handcuffed by police officers and later said he suffered a concussion. The attempted eviction put Charrington's case at the center of Brooklyn's growing fight over deed theft. Charrington and her supporters say her family home was sold without her father's approval. 227 Group LLC, which city records list as the current owner, denies their accusation, saying that the sale and eviction were lawful."

"Two days after the chaos outside Charrington's home, Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced the creation of New York City's first Office of Deed Theft Prevention, appointing veteran housing attorney Peter White as its director. "The theft of a home is the theft of a family's future," Mamdani said in a press release. "Deed theft preys on the New Yorkers who can least afford it." The office will be housed in the Department of Finance, and coordinate with city agencies."

"Mamdani said its budget is $500,000 this fiscal year, and $1 million next year. He had promised a $10 million budget for such an office during his mayoral campaign. Deed theft is when someone gains control of a home through paperwork that the initial owner or family says was f"

Read at Prism