Harassing tenant leads to charges for mid-town building owner

After a series of unpleasant events involving his landlord, a local renter was forced to contact police in an attempt to bring an end to the issues. Instead, the landlord ended up being arrested.

On Monday, Sept. 24. 2018, the tenant was in his mid-town apartment when the owner of the building began pounding and kicking at his door. The tenant didn’t answer the door, and instead went into his bathroom. When he emerged from the bathroom, the tenant found that his rear screen door had been torn open, and an eviction notice had been left for him in an envelope scrawled with profanity.

The tenant went out of town for a few days and, upon his return home, he found he was unable to get into his apartment due to a damaged door lock. The tenant also discovered that his name had been torn off his mailbox and the lock had been changed.

The tenant contacted Kingston Police and reported both incidents. Police responded to the apartment and contacted the building owner by phone. The owner was agitated and belligerent with officers when he attended the building, according to a press release from Kingston Police. When officers questioned the owner about the damage to the tenant’s door lock, the owner “stormed down the hall and kicked open the door,” police said.

The 57-year-old building owner was arrested for forcible entry, and later charged with forcible entry and harassment.