NEW YORK (1010 WINS) — A Flatbush landlord was sentenced Tuesday to six months in jail in connection with a 2019 two-alarm fire at his illegally subdivided apartment building that left a 70-year-old tenant dead and injured six others, the Brooklyn district attorney's office announced.
LISTEN TO 1010 WINS
According to the evidence, Evener Leon owned 1776 Nostrand Ave., a three-story, two-family dwelling with a commercial space on the first floor. His family lived in the second-floor apartment, and the third-floor apartment was divided into four illegal apartments occupied by a total of seven adults and four children.
Leon stopped paying his utility bills years before the fire, so the building had no gas or heat. Instead, the 63-year-old gave the residents space heaters, and some of them cooked with hot plates.
Prosecutors said on Dec. 9, 2019, a two-alarm fire erupted on the second floor around 4 a.m. and spread to the third floor. Most of the tenants suffered some smoke inhalation and other injuries as they crowded onto a rear fire escape to get out of the building.
As soon as the fire overtook the stairway, Jean Yves Lalanne, 70, was stranded in his small room in the front of the building, which firefighters refer to as a "dead man's room," with no way to safely exit.
There was no fire escape in the front of the building, and at least one of the illegal rear apartments was locked, which prevented him from reaching the fire escape in the rear, according to the evidence. Lalanne jumped from his third-floor window and fell to his death.
Fire Marshals determined that it was an electrical fire that started in the vicinity of the insulation of a cord connected to a space heater in the rear bedroom on the second floor.
There were no sprinkler heads on the second or third floors, and there were no fire-proof or self-closing doors on the third floor, all of which were violations of provisions of the New York State Multiple Dwelling Law.
"This landlord’s unconscionable negligence cost an innocent man his life and left six others injured when a horrific fire broke out in his illegal apartments," said Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez. "Today's sentence holds him accountable and sends a strong message to landlords who put profit over the health and safety of their tenants that violations of our housing laws and regulations can come with serious consequences."
Leon was convicted of criminally negligent homicide on May 23, 2022, according to the district attorney's office. In addition to his prison sentence, the 63-year-old faces five years' probation.
Related
Related
