The accused nightmare tenant squatting in a rent-controlled West Village apartment was arrested over the weekend for allegedly smashing a neighbor’s doorbell camera, The Post has learned.
Melvin DeJesus, 66, was caught on his neighbor’s camera knocking on the door repeatedly, taping a note to it — and then ripping the Ring Video Doorbell off the wall and taking it with him on Thursday, March 5, prosecutors alleged.
Witnesses told The Post they saw “a phalanx” of cops on Saturday approach DeJesus, who was sitting in a car once used by his former roommate and late lifelong resident of 400 Bleeker St, John Grafenecker.
William Farrington for NY Post
“They just took him out of the car slowly and cuffed him,” one witness said.
Pictures shared with The Post showed roughly six cops surrounding the black SUV as an unidentified man who was sitting next to DeJesus exits the vehicle.
DeJesus was charged with criminal mischief and theft on Saturday, the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office said, the latest addition to the ex-con’s lengthy rap sheet — which includes an attempted murder charge from 1987.
The alleged squatter from hell moved into the 5th-floor unit at 400 Bleecker St. roughly two decades ago when Grafenecker took him in, a relative of the late tenant’s previously told The Post.
DeJesus stayed in the apartment after Grafenecker’s death at 84 last year — and now faces both eviction proceedings and a separate lawsuit from the building owner accusing him of turning the desirable apartment into a “flophouse” and terrorizing his neighbors.
Neighbors said they are so frightened, that some are considering moving out — and claimed that despite a court-issued restraining order against DeJesus, the building isn’t doing enough to keep them safe.
“I have tons of emails from all the tenants to management asking for safety measures to be taken and management failing to do so, throughout the last year,” said one building resident, who asked to remain anonymous.
“I have also relocated at a friend’s because I am not safe in my apartment,” the resident said, adding that other tenants are also considering fleeing the building, where a two-bedroom unit recently rented for $6,700 a month.
“It is honestly ruining my life and my right to safe housing.”
A spokesperson for the building owner, The Brodsky Organization, said in a statement: “We’ve taken every possible means to address this unfortunate situation and remain committed to maintaining safe, clean, and comfortable housing for all residents.
The company is suing DeJesus for $5.5 million and won a restraining order against him barring him from harassing tenants last month.
“Our tenants were informed of the restraining order within an hour of us becoming aware of it on February 25,” the rep said. “Similarly, management was made aware of the recent pest issues and immediately addressed the issues when they arose.”
DeJesus has claimed in court papers that he has the right to stay in the apartment because the now-deceased longtime tenant, Grafenecker, was actually his gay lover of 30 years — an argument legal experts have said could allow him to keep the coveted rent-controlled unit.
But a close relative of Grafenecker’s poured cold water on the romantic relationship claim, as did another tenant in the building Tuesday.
DeJesus “continuously made homophobic attacks and insults on the gay tenants in the building,” the tenant claimed.
“I was also hearing their fights all day all night for months — I can guarantee they were not in a relationship.”
Grafenecker lived in apartment 5B from 1946 until his death last fall.
DeJesus could not be reached for comment.