Police activity surrounding the release after six days of a homeowner from Rikers Island came to a block in Bedford-Stuyvesant on Wednesday.
Carmella Charrington left custody late Tuesday and was released just as an emergency meeting was being held by her supporters, who were determined to help her keep her family’s property.
The emergency meeting was called to update supporters on ongoing efforts to seize the home at 212 Jefferson Ave., which they have held for generations, from the Charringtons. It was also called to urge supporters to stay on watch in case marshals or sheriff’s deputies show up and try to put the family out of their home.
But Marshals or sheriff’s deputies showed up to attempt an eviction shortly after 8 a.m. April 22. As community members had feared, police arrived early, seemingly to catch residents off guard. But several people had gathered at Charrington’s 212 Jefferson Ave., property even earlier and tried to put their bodies in the way of any attempted trespass.
Councilman Chi Ossé and four other community members were grabbed by police, taken to the ground, and brought to the 79th Precinct for attempting to stop the police. Once they were out of the way, police removed the front door lock and smashed their way through a wooden door. The authorities said they were executing a search warrant for Allman, the elderly father of Carmella Charrington, who was not on the premises at the time.
Carmella’s son explained that because Judge Rachel Freier did not process the paperwork showing there is currently a stay on any eviction at the house, “We couldn’t produce it to the marshals today to show that there was a stay.”
The violent arrest of Councilman Ossé drew a bevy of news crews and fellow council members to the 79th Precinct, and several of Charrington’s supporters marched with Hank Newsome of Black Lives Matter to the precinct to demand that everyone arrested be released.
Charrington’s supporters say the eviction threat stems from a disputed sale of the property to 227 Group LLC, and a guardianship fight involving Charrington’s elderly father, Allman Charrington, a battle which could determine who has the authority to sell, void, or reclaim the deed to the house.
Though Carmella was freed from Rikers, supporters said they expected marshals to show up at the home and try to force the building’s residents out. Supporters said they would be willing to camp out at the house all day and put their bodies on the line to make sure the property is not taken.
The fight over ownership of the property stems from the fact that Carmella’s father, Allman Charrington, who is in his 80s, reportedly fled Georgia in 2024 to avoid involuntary guardianship and to prevent being fleeced by his estranged wife Karen, a woman 30 years his junior. According to court testimony, there were indications that Karen Charrington, a Jamaica native, was taking funds from his bank account and gaining access to his properties in Georgia and New York.
Karen Charrington testified on April 16 during the guardianship proceedings that she has been legally married to him for nearly 10 years now and had not seen Charrington since Nov. 1, 2023.
When she was in court on April 17, she declined to speak to the AmNews about her case because she is not a native of this country and does not fully understand how legal procedures work in the U.S. But Allman Charrington’s children claim that his wife and the Georgia-based guardianship administrator of his affairs have been going through his funds and trying to sell his properties without his permission.
The Charringtons have been fighting to keep Allman out of the guardianship proceedings and to save their long-term Brooklyn home from what they say are fraudulent claims. Allman Charrington has been a partial owner of the house with his sister since the 1980s. After a court-appointed conservator was assigned to help him with his finances, Carmella and her sister filed to be declared his legal guardians, but the court refused. Soon after, Carmella said the conservator began liquidating her father’s assets, including attempting to sell their Jefferson Avenue family home.
The property was reportedly purchased by 227 Group LLC, a company based in Long Island City, for $1.4 million. The owners are Etai Vardi and brothers Elliot and Joseph Ambalo. Last year, an article in The City described them as “Speculator Bros Ripping Off Heirs and Evicting Tenants Across NYC.” Multiple allegations claim that 227 Group LLC contacts distant heirs of recently deceased property owners and encourages them to claim partial ownership, which is then sold to the Ambalos and Vardi. They tend to target older homes in Black and Brown neighborhoods, pay distant heirs small sums for partial shares, and use these payments as leverage to force sales or evictions, allowing them to profit by flipping the properties.
Carmella and her family claim this is what happened to them. The company has attempted to evict them from their home, but Carmella has been resisting through the courts. She says the guardianship case is another way they are trying to take her home.
Carmella Charrington was taken into custody on Thursday, April 16, during an appearance at Kings County Civil Supreme Court in front of Judge Rachel Freier. After an attempted eviction was postponed on March 31, Carmella had a court date to see Judge Freier regarding the conservatorship of her father in Georgia.
Because Carmella did not bring her father into court, Judge Freier declared that the court’s efforts to ensure the elder Charrington’s safety were being thwarted. “I want to know why Mr. Charrington is not here today and … I want to know where he is,” the judge said. “This is the guardianship court. I want to state for the record that we have a full courtroom, and I do note the presence of theStop the Deed Theft group here. You’re all welcome to my courtroom.
“This is our courtroom, and this is the guardianship part. This is not a foreclosure part, this is not the property part, this is the guardianship part,” he continued. “We are here to [determine] the whereabouts of Mr. Charrington. This has been going on for quite a significant amount of time. If you all want to sit and listen to a guardianship hearing, you’re welcome to stay … but this is not about deed theft. It’s about the whereabouts and the condition of Mr. Charrington and why he isn’t where he’s supposed to be — with his wife.”
Carmella’s attorneys could not attend the April 16 hearing and requested a postponement of the case. Although they were absent, Judge Freier allowed testimony regarding the guardianship to go forward, and when Carmella attempted to leave the courtroom, she was told she was being detained. The judge found Charrington in contempt for failing to bring her elderly father to court and had her held at Rikers Island.