Allman Charrington’s daughter, Carmella Charrington speaks at Thursday’s rally.
Supporters of Allman Charrington, who was evicted by Sheriff’s deputies last month, warned against predatory guardianships and the ongoing displacement of elderly Black Brooklynites.
BY COLE SINANIAN
cole@queensledger.com
BED-STUY — The fight over a Bed- Stuy brownstone at the center of a complex eviction case that many have described as deed theft continued July 2, when neighbors, elected officials, and activists rallied in scorching heat for the return of the home’s 84-year-old former owner, Allman Charrington, who NYC Sheriff’s deputies detained on June 26.
Charrington’s daughter, Carmella — who just won an election to serve on the New York State Democratic Committee — was jailed at Rikers Island in April for failing to vacate the property, which was sold to a company called 227 Group LLC in January 2024. She alleged that the home, located at 212 Jefferson Street, was taken from her family in a shady deal that saw a conservator and 227 Group take advantage of her father’s mental decline to sell his property, which has been in the Charrington family for decades.
Allman Charrington had been living in the home with Carmella, as well as several of his grandchildren and great-grandchildren, when deputies acting on a court order seized him and transported him back to Georgia, where he’d been living previously.
“Carmella went to get a conservatorship to help with what was happening with her father…and instead they took her father from her, separated him from the family, and started immediately liquidating all of his assets,” alleged Evangeline Byars of the People’s Coalition to Stop Deed Theft at the July 2 rally.
The case has become a flashpoint in the struggle against the gentrification of predominantly Black Brooklyn neighborhoods like Bed-Stuy, where soaring property values have brought real estate speculators to seize properties from elderly Black homeowners, sometimes through misleading or illegal tactics. The New York State Attorney General’s office defines deed theft as the theft of the title of a home without the homeowner’s knowledge or approval through fraud or forgery.
An Instagram video from the day Mr. Charrington was seized by deputies shows him dressed in a white t-shirt, leaning against a vehicle while two deputies surround him. His daughter Carmella, who’s filming, can be heard saying “tell him you refuse, dad,” and shouting for the neighbors to come out and protest. The NYC Sheriff’s office declined to share details of the court order with the Brooklyn Star, but family members of Charrington’s said at Thursday’s rally that deputies were executing an attachment warrant signed by Kings County Supreme Court Judge Rachel Freier.
In a statement, a spokesperson with the Department of Finance confirmed that Allman Charrington had been safely returned to Georgia, but did not, however, address his daughter’s allegations that the court order had already been served.
“In accordance with a court order, the Sheriff’s Office located the individual and transported him to a local hospital,” the spokesperson wrote. “He was in the Sheriff’s safe custody with access to medical care until State of Georgia personnel accompanied him for the travel back to his home in Georgia.”
State Senator Jabari Brisport speaks at Thursday’s rally.
State Senator Jabari Brisport, who spoke at Thursday’s rally, called the NYC Sheriff’s conduct “ghoulish and disgusting” and criticized the agency for “ripping a father away from his daughter,” before vowing to continue fundraising to help cover the Charringtons’ legal costs.
“He was happy to be here,” Brisport said. “This was his home. These attempts to uproot black people by taking the building, taking their bodies away, does not sit right with me.”
Bed-Stuy and Crown Heights City councilmember Chi Ossé has previously called on the governor to enact a moratorium on eviction proceedings for cases that may involve deed theft. Ossé was arrested while protesting against Carmella Charrington’s eviction at 212 Jefferson back in April, after which Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced plans to create an Office of Deed Theft Prevention.
In a letter to Governor Kathy Hochul, Ossé counted 3,500 deed-theft related to complaints to the City.
“Deed theft is one of the most pervasive and least discussed housing crises in New York,” said Ossé in a statement.
“No one should be forced out while the courts are still determining whether a home was stolen. A temporary stay on eviction proceedings in these cases is nec- essary to achieve longer.term solutions to protect homeowners experiencing the unspeakable devastation that is deed theft.”
While attorney General Letitia James did not describe the Charrington case as deed theft, calling it instead a complicated property dispute, family members of Allman Charrington — several of whom wore T- shirts Thursday emblazoned with the faces of James and Hochul — said his removal from his family home represented another example of Black New Yorkers being denied access to generational wealth.
“Every time we seem to get a piece of that generational wealth, or that American pie, they snatch it from underneath us, out of greed,” said Michelle Darden, a cousin of Allman Charrington’s, in an interview at the rally.
In a speech outside the Charrington home Thursday, the family’s attorney, Tricia Lindsay, called Allman Charrington’s detention an attack on his constitutional rights. She said the 84-year-old had attempted to responsibly put his affairs in order before his mental decline, only for his will to be disregarded by the state.
“Because he’s incapacitated, or maybe having some cognitive issues now, does he not have the right to equal protection under our laws?” Lindsay said.
“Mr. Charrington was responsible, and he took the opportunity, took the time to put certain things in place,” she continued. “And right now, his rights are being completely eroded.”
