Queens Neighbors Band Together To Evict ‘Psychopath Squatter’ From $915K Home

Neighbors in Queens, NY, say it took more than two years to evict squatters from their neighborhood, and only after they banded together and persuaded a congressman and local news station to step in.

Harry Yanakis tells Realtor.com® that he and his neighbors first noticed Vernon Glass and Lusascha Taylor, who have been accused of serial squatting, at 23-40 205th St. in 2024. The two-story Cape Cod–style home is located in the leafy, suburban neighborhood of Bayside and is currently listed for sale for $915,000.

The previous owner, Richard Klibschon, died of a heart attack in 2018, and because he had a heavy reverse mortgage, his relatives were reluctant to take the property on.

Typically, in a case like Klibschon's, the home would go through a probate process where the state evaluates and settles the deceased's outstanding debts through the sale of property. If no outstanding debts exist and if no relative can be found, the property is then transferred to the state and put on the market.

Instead, the three-bedroom home sat unoccupied for years, stuck in legal limbo, making it a prime target for squatters.

Authorities believe Glass and Taylor were able to move in because both the hospital and the funeral home that handled Klibschon's burial failed to notify the Queens County Public Administrator's Office of his death.

Gerard Sweeney, legal council for the public administrator's office, said that's not uncommon.

“A funeral director is supposed to notify us. A hospital is supposed to notify us,” he told the Queens Eagle. “But they don't do it anymore.”

The bank holding Klibschon's mortgage was equally unaware of his death and had begun the slow process of attempting to foreclose on the property for nonpayment. But a COVID-19-era eviction moratorium paused the process for several years.

That gave Glass and Taylor an opening, authorities say.

The bank eventually tried to sell the foreclosed home and had a buyer. However, when the bank went to sell it, Glass and Taylor had already moved in, claiming Glass' mother owned the home, says Yanakis.

Yanakis added that the couple weren't alone, either. They brought three children with them.

"He would purposely have all the little kids' bicycles and toys in front of the yard, to make it a point that he has children," he said. "They were using their children as hostages, like, 'What are you gonna do? We have kids here.'"

This past May, after many delays, the property was finally transferred over to the Queen's County Public Administrator's office and an investigation into Glass and Taylor began. The office began working to remove the pair from the home. The following month, the home was listed as a part of a county auction with a starting bid of $925,000, but it went unsold.

Yanakis says that's because Glass intimated potential buyers when they visited the home.

It wasn't until September that the Queens County District Attorney's Office finally collected enough evidence to indict Glass and Taylor on burglary, grand larceny, and criminal trespass charges.

"You simply cannot move into a home without permission and claim you have a right to stay—even if the property is vacant and the owner is deceased," said Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz in a statement. "The defendants have been removed from the property, and the home has been secured to prevent their return. They will now face justice in our court system.”

Both Glass and Taylor have pleaded not guilty. If convicted, they each face more than 15 years in prison.

A history of 'serial squatting'

This isn't the first time Glass and Taylor have been accused of unlawfully taking possession of a property.

In 2018, authorities charged Glass with burglary, grand larceny, criminal mischief, and scheme to defraud in connection with a Nassau County property. In that case, Glass posed as a landlord and collected around $9,000 from three tenants before the real landlord became aware of his actions.

After pleading guilty to a lesser felony and misdemeanor, Glass received five years' probation.

He and Taylor were also accused in 2023 of moving into a Flushing, Queens, home "by force" and "without permission" and failing to leave after a notice of termination was issued. Owners began eviction proceedings against him but were forced to stop when their property was foreclosed upon.

Glass, Taylor, and the landlord came to an agreement that they would vacate the premises in January 2024, which aligns with when the pair were first spotted at Klibschon's Bayside address.

In 2025, Glass sued the owner of a commercial building on Steinway Street in Queens after the owner locked him out. In an affidavit, the building's owner said that Glass and his business Saucy Fried Chicken had failed to pay rent for two years, leading him to file a claim of involuntary bankruptcy against the business. Glass eventually withdrew his case.

Yanakis says the neighbors first figured out they had a squatter in their midst shortly after Glass and Taylor moved in, after a package for Taylor was erroneously delivered next door.

The couple and their children mostly kept to themselves, but a neighbor Googled Taylor's name and began learning more about the couple.

"We started realizing ... this is the squatter that had broken into the Nassau County home. And now here he is again."

Yanakis believes the DA was moved to act only because the neighbors banded together to make something happen. They contacted the bank to let them know about Glass' history, but the process of getting the couple out of the house was slow-going.

To speed it along, 41 of the neighbors signed a petition outlining the story and sent it to U.S. Rep. Tom Souzzi (D-NY), who was able to get the ball rolling on the public administration side. They also contacted the local ABC affiliate's 7 On Your Side investigative team, who did a series of stories on the ordeal.

Yanakis believes both measures helped push the DA to finally open a case against Glass and Taylor.

How squatters succeed

Yanakis calls Glass a "psychopath squatter" and is convinced he must have access to "inside information" that helps him find unoccupied homes.

But Tim Abrahams, a real estate and elder fraud consultant based in California, says squatters will often use relatively unsophisticated methods to find properties to move into.

"A lot of times, it's just as simple as just driving around the neighborhood looking for run-down properties," he tells Realtor.com. "The grass is overgrown and there's weeds everywhere. There's papers piled up on the front porch or the driveway."

Abrahams says squatters will "keep an eye on it for a while before they make their move, and once they gain access to a property, they'll start receiving mail and establishing residency."

Both Glass and Taylor had gotten driver's licenses with the 205th Street address.

Sweeney, the lawyer for the public administrator's office, said after removing Glass and Taylor's items from the home, they installed motion-sensitive security cameras inside the residence.

To prevent squatters from moving in on a deceased person's property, Abrahams recommends that neighbors or friends contact the county recorder’s office to report the death. An affidavit of death can then be recorded against the property.

Despite the ordeal, Yanakis and his neighbors are happy about the outcome, and they're glad to see their neighbor's home back on the market.

To celebrate their victory for the neighborhood, neighbors recently gathered for a bagel and egg brunch.

"We did bond. We're happy about it. But in the end, it's kind of PTSD just knowing you're coming home every night, and you've got to see this."