CBS2 Exclusive: Neighbors Say Copiague Home Is Full Of Garbage, Vermin
COPIAGUE, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) -- Neighbors on a quiet residential street on Long Island say they are getting sick from what is living next door.
Homeowners said fleas, rats and mice are coming from a home that is thought to be unoccupied. CBS2's Jennifer McLogan reported exclusively on the issue Tuesday and helped neighbors contact officials – demanding answers.
It is a quality of life issue that has been plaguing a neighborhood in Copiague for several years – an absentee landlord homeowner that residents say has left a house infested with garbage and vermin.
Andrew Falco, 10, has a compromised immune system that has kept him in and out of the hospital. Lately, he says it has been harder and harder to breathe.
"My chest starts hurting a bit, and I go like, (gasp, gasp!)" he said.
Andrew's doctors attribute the difficulty inhaling to rodent droppings that the Falcos said moved in from the unkempt property next door.
"We had to put him back on a bunch of the breathing medications, to find out it's because he's breathing mice droppings," said Dolores Falco. "So it immediately impacted his health."
Homeowners who live just blocks away from the heart of the hamlet contacted CBS2 to say the woman at 69 William St. vacated her property some four years ago. Squatters settled in and were removed, leaving behind several pets with fleas.
A neighbor, Cissie, tried to help the stray animals in the house.
"The person that came out of the house was totally infested, totally -- I mean, you couldn't see their body for the fleas," Cissie said. "They were picking them off of them. I hosed the person down."
The home has fluctuated among banks during a drawn-out foreclosure. The Town of Babylon said recently, the absentee landlord allowed a woman and her children to move in without a rental permit.
The occupants and the owner were cited for several violations.
Those inside maintained that they were caring for the house for a friend, and denied that it was infested with vermin or fleas.
"We were told that the homeowner lives in Florida and that she doesn't have a permit to rent this house; that it's in foreclosure with the bank," McLogan told a 19-year-old man at the home.
"No idea, again," the man replied.
Following CBS2's calls, the town issued another summons for rodent infestation.
"They'll be posting a notice of violation," said Town of Babylon spokesman Brendan Cunningham. "Basically, the homeowner will seven days to address that issue, and if they don't, the town will hire an exterminator at the homeowner's expense."
The town told CBS2 that as soon as foreclosure proceedings are complete, it will force the bank to clear and clean the property. Until then, inspectors will monitor weekly.
