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The man dubbed as New York City’s worst landlord was attacked during the first day of his sentence at Rikers Island Correctional Facility, according to multiple NYC news outlets on Monday. The notorious landlord, Daniel Ohebshalom, was beaten Friday afternoon and may have multiple facial fractures.
A public information officer told NBC New York Ohebshalom was an innocent bystander during a fight between other inmates. The landlord was briefly hospitalized on Friday and taken back to Rikers. The officer wouldn’t confirm the severity of Ohebshalom’s injuries.
The California-based landlord has made national headlines for racking up more than 700 violations for two multifamily buildings he owns in Manhattan. The violations included lead-based paint, widespread mold, chronic rat infestations, leaky plumbing and inadequate electricity supply.
The New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) gave Ohebshalom two years to fix the violations. However, he refused, leading the HPD to escalate their requests to include jail time and civil penalties totaling more than $3 million. HPD also appointed an administrator to handle urgent repairs, including a new roof, and new plumbing and electricity system.
Housing court judge Jack Stoller issued an arrest warrant for Ohebshalom on March 8 and sentenced him to 60 days in jail with an opportunity for early release, if he began fixing the violations at his buildings.
“Landlords who continue to flagrantly violate the law and allow poor conditions to persist will face the full force of the tools available to HPD to compel compliance,” Office of Enforcement and Neighborhood Services (ENS) Deputy Commissioner AnnMarie Santiago said, according to an Inman article published Friday. “We are grateful that the Housing Court acted in response to our litigation by ordering some of the most drastic relief against this owner, the appointment of a 7A and jail.”
“HPD’s enforcement team is here for all New Yorkers who deserve safe, healthy and habitable homes, and I urge tenants to know their rights and call 311 as a first step towards improving their living conditions,” she added.
The New York Post spoke with several of Ohebshalom’s tenants after the news of the attack. Each of them said he deserved it.
“I had to pay out of my pocket for the kitchen to be fixed because the rats were chewing their way in,” said a 37-year-old tenant named Nelly. “Him getting punched is karma. God forgive me for laughing!”
“He’s not a good person — he’s not nice, he’s a very crazy person,” added Yovanny Marte Lopez, who’s lived in the building for 30 years. “It’s good that this happened to him.”
