The New York City man accused of squatting in a million-dollar home (and even making money by renting rooms to others) gave a surprising excuse in court for a video that showed him breaking into the residence while its rightful owner was inside.
Brian “Jay” Rodriguez returned to Queens Criminal Court on Monday and appeared before a judge nearly three months after being charged with burglary, grand larceny and other crimes for illegally occupying Adele Andalaro’s home.
Dressed in navy blue pants and a blue button-down shirt, Rodriguez appeared composed as he entered the courtroom with his mother, who walked with a cane, at his side.
He told DailyMail.com that “I did nothing wrong” and seemed confident that lawyers would sort it out.
“It was a rental contract that someone had given me. Now it’s practically a fake contract. At the time I didn’t know that,” he insisted upon leaving the court.
“I didn’t hide in the house.”
Brian “Jay” Rodriguez returned to Queens Criminal Court on Monday. He appeared calm as he walked with his mother. In April, he was charged with burglary, grand larceny and other offenses, accused of unlawfully occupying Adele Andalaro’s family home in Flushing.
Adele Andalaro, pictured outside her Roslyn Heights home, inherited the single-family home in Queens and was outraged to discover it had been taken over by squatters.
Ironically, Rodriguez is now under house arrest with a GPS-equipped ankle monitor and is only allowed out for work and court appearances.
The ordeal began in February, when Andalaro went to his home, which he inherited from his parents, and noticed that the front door and locks had been changed, and that squatters had moved in and refused to leave.
Shocked, Andalaro confronted Rodriguez, yelling at him for “stealing her house,” leading to an explosive confrontation that at one point saw Rodriguez trying to break down the front door.
In a strange twist, when police arrived, Andalaro was handcuffed and arrested. Video of the arrest went viral and made national headlines, with many people outraged that squatters seemed to have more rights than legal owners.
Rodriguez addressed the confrontation on Monday, insisting he “never disrespected Ms. Andalaro.”
“It’s not that I yelled at him. In that video they make me look like an animal and that’s not the case,” he said.
“I didn’t realize she was behind the door,” he explained. “There were other guys in the house, that’s how the media portrayed me.”
Rodriguez, of East Flushing, initially faced up to 15 years in prison, but that sentence has now been reduced to between 1 1/2 and 3 years.
The Andalaro home in Flushing, Queens, which Rodriguez occupied and rented rooms in
When called to testify, Queens County Judge Toni Cimino asked: “What is the intent here? I don’t know what the purpose of today’s appearance is.”
Defense attorney Nicholas Dayan told the judge he was assigned to the case just a week ago (Rodriguez’s former attorney was Gerald Levine) and that his client was “not interested at this time in accepting a plea” and is prepared to go to trial.
The judge said his client needs to make sure he is not “arrested again” and said he must return to court on August 7.
District Attorney Melinda Katz said the following in April when the charges were announced.
“Criminal charges will be filed when you squat in someone else’s home. You can’t just enter a home without permission, stay there without permission, and then claim grandfathered rights simply because the rightful owner doesn’t know about it and hasn’t been able to evict you for 30 days,” he said.
‘The defendant in this case allegedly entered and remained in the home unlawfully. He has now been charged with burglary and grand larceny.’
Rodriguez insisted Monday that he is innocent and that he himself is a victim.
“I didn’t do anything wrong. There is a lot of evidence. The police camera shows everything I did,” he said.
Rodriguez stands with his mother inside the Queens courthouse on Monday, ready to face the judge.
He has proclaimed his innocence, telling DailyMail.com that he “did nothing wrong.”
His lawyer told DailyMail.com that Rodriguez approached him for representation after he was the lawyer for two of his friends, who faced criminal charges and were acquitted.
“He told me why he had hired me. He said I had helped two of his friends. It was a crime and it was worse (than the Rodriguez case).”
The lawyer described the case as “interesting” and said that after reviewing the accusation and how he is being charged, he is accused of a criminal law statute.
“Exactly how they’re getting to a felony in this burglary case is they’re saying he took property from the home he broke into, so I’m going to see if I can get the primary charge dismissed on motion if they don’t have it in the law in this case.”
He added: “Right now, the offer is one and a half to three years. No motions have been filed. They have not filed the certificate of compliance, which means they have not given us all the information and the law in that specific case is that we do not have to file our motions until they certify the case.”
Dayan said there is still work to be done, but his plan moving forward is to keep Rodriguez out of jail.
The Queens District Attorney’s office told DailyMail.com that “the case is still pending.”
“We have no further comment beyond our April press release,” a spokesperson said.
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