A hard-working immigrant family in New York City is living a nightmare after unwittingly inviting a suspected squatter into their Manhattan home.
Now, more than a year later, they claim their unwanted tenant won’t leave and is turning their apartment into a health hazard as the guest from hell litters the floor with rotting feminine hygiene products and piles of foul-smelling trash.
Worse yet, they allege that its occupant is sleeping in his deceased grandmother’s bed, has stolen more than $50,000 worth of jewelry and is responsible for sending an elderly aunt to the hospital.
But despite spending more than $30,000 in legal fees and making nearly 50 calls to police, there appears to be nothing they can do, according to the family and their lawyer.
Speaking exclusively to DailyMail.com, the Kermanshah family say they have had enough.
“He’s taken so much from us,” said Donna Kermanshah, 24, whose father, Magid Kermanshah, is the legal owner of the apartment. “He’s ruining our lives.”
A hard-working immigrant family in New York City is living a nightmare after unwittingly inviting a suspected squatter (pictured) into their Manhattan home.
Despite spending more than $30,000 in legal fees and making nearly 50 calls to the police, there is nothing they can do except wait for the New York housing court to issue an eviction ruling, which can take months.
Magid, 77, bought the two-bedroom apartment on Manhattan’s East Side in 1999 for $385,000 for her ailing mother. Her sister, Donna’s aunt, later moved into the home to help care for her, too.
Today, similar units in the building sell for $1.3 million.
“My father worked hard all his life to take care of his mother,” Donna said. “He came to this country with nothing and had to struggle to support us.”
Her ordeal began in May 2023 when, Donna says, her aunt received a Facebook message from someone called Daria (The Mail has changed her name), claiming to be a distant relative from Iran.
“He’s taken so much from us,” said Donna Kermanshah, 24 (pictured), whose father Magid Kermanshah is the legal owner of the apartment. “He’s ruining our lives.”
Daria, a woman in her 40s, said she was visiting New York City to offer her condolences for the loss of the family matriarch who died several months earlier.
The family now suspects that Daria saw the announcement of her grandmother’s death on Facebook and decided to scam them.
Donna told the Mail that Daria begged for a temporary place to stay shortly after arriving, claiming she had recently been kicked out of her daughter’s home in Chicago.
But the days turned into weeks.
And Donna said her aunt was too ashamed to reveal to her family that she had allowed Daria to move in with her.
When the aunt finally confessed what had happened, it was too late.
In New York City, squatters are granted tenant rights after 30 days in a residence.
And when Magid called New York City police in June 2023 to report Daria’s alleged illegal occupation of the apartment, she had already been living there for over a month.
That meant the police could not legally remove her by force. The family’s only recourse was to file an eviction suit in housing court.
The Kermanshahs claim the squatter is sleeping in their deceased grandmother’s bed, has stolen more than $50,000 worth of jewelry and is responsible for sending an elderly aunt to the hospital. Pictured here is Donna Kermanshah with her deceased grandmother.
“My father worked hard all his life to take care of his mother,” Donna said. “He came to this country with nothing and struggled to support us.” Pictured: Magid, owner of a carpet business in lower Manhattan
What followed was a labyrinthine legal case that began in November 2023, when the Kermanshahs sent Daria a legal notice to vacate the premises.
And as the case languished in housing court, the family said, Daria’s behavior grew increasingly bizarre.
He allegedly stole up to $50,000 worth of jewelry from Grandma, a birth certificate and a special diary, and had disgusting habits, such as leaving used feminine hygiene products on the floor in piles of trash, according to Donna.
Then, the Mail was told, things became more disturbing, even violent.
Donna claimed that Daria barricaded herself inside the apartment and was afraid to open the windows because she feared someone would “crawl through them to kill her at night,” despite the apartment being more than 30 stories high.
Daria used to sleep in the middle of the kitchen tile floor on a pile of blankets, Donna said, and would rinse paper cups before cutting them into tiny pieces, allegedly ranting, “I don’t want to be fingerprinted.”
At that point, “my aunt was totally and completely freaked out,” Donna said.
“Daria likes to tease my aunt,” she told the Mail. “She would follow her down the halls, film her and harass her. They had a fight and my aunt fell down and ended up in hospital.”
With little information available, Donna has painstakingly attempted to piece together Daria’s background.
As far as she knows, Daria has no job, but she often claims to have been a “former spy in Iran for the pre-revolutionary government.”
The Mail also reviewed videos from inside the apartment captured by a security system the Kermanshahs installed to monitor their elderly mother.
In one clip, Daria can be heard ranting against the “corrupt” US government, the “corrupt” New York Police Department and the Chicago branch of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, whom she blames for her daughter’s “forced disappearance.”
Other images show Daria pacing around the apartment, appearing to be talking excitedly to herself.
In a clip of footage recorded from inside the apartment, the squatter can be heard ranting against the “corrupt” US government, the “corrupt” New York Police Department and the Chicago branch of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, whom she blames for her daughter’s “forced disappearance.”
The squatter allegedly stole up to $50,000 worth of jewelry from Grandma, a birth certificate and a special diary, and had disgusting habits, such as leaving used feminine hygiene products on the floor in piles of trash, according to Donna.
To complicate the legal process, Daria took the Kermanshahs to court to claim that she was entitled to legal occupancy of the apartment because she was a relative of the family.
According to Kermanshah’s lawyer, the case was dismissed.
The family’s attorney also told the Mail that Daria filed a restraining order against Donna’s aunt, but the case was reportedly dismissed after Daria failed to show up in court.
On May 24, 2024, after months of delays, Kermanshah’s case was heard and they are now awaiting a decision from the judge.
Eviction lawsuits in New York City can reportedly take six to eight months to resolve, but in a court system plagued by budget cuts and a backlog of cases, particularly difficult cases can take years to conclude.
Now, while the Kermanshahs wait, Daria is living rent-free and Magid must continue to pay the steep condominium fee of $2,000 a month.
Daria also recently returned to family court to file a second restraining order against the family’s aunt.
To avoid violating the order, the aunt moved out of the apartment and now lives with her son in Queens.
