A squatter was sentenced to two to four years in prison for illegally occupying a vacant single-family home in St. Albans last year.
True Jackson, 41, lied when he claimed the home was his lawful permanent residence and kept pit bulls on the property, according to the Queens District Attorney’s Office.
According to the charges and investigation, Jackson and two co-defendants, Saliam Sudler, 35, and Sania Outar, 24, illegally moved into the St. Albans home in the spring of 2024. Family members of the legal homeowner, who had moved out months earlier, noticed activity inside the property. No one had been given permission to be in the property.
According to the charges, on July 31, police officers from the 113th Precinct responded to a 911 call of a domestic dispute at the home between Jackson and Sudler, who are stepbrothers. Jackson was arrested for damaging Sudler’s security cameras and refusing to return Sudler’s PlayStation 5. During the incident, Jackson, Sudler, and Outar — who is Sudler’s girlfriend — told police they lived inside the home and reported the address to the officers as their official place of residence.
Jackson’s name was on a forged lease recovered during the execution of the search warrant. More than half a dozen pit bulls were found to be kept in the cellar of the property, seemingly in good condition. They were transported to animal control. Further investigation revealed that the trio used electricity in the home without payment for the duration of their unauthorized stay.
“This defendant thought he could help himself to a vacant home that was not his,” Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said. “He moved in and listed the home as his official place of residence. An investigation by my Housing and Worker Protection Bureau revealed that he had no claim to the property.”
Jackson pleaded guilty to burglary in the third degree in July. Queens Supreme Court Justice Gary Miret sentenced him Tuesday as a predicate felon to an indeterminate term of two to four years in prison.
“He has now pleaded guilty and was sentenced to prison,” Katz said. “This case makes clear that we will prioritize removing squatters and prosecute those who make illegal claims to property.”
Co-defendants Sudler and Outar pleaded guilty earlier this year to criminal trespass and were given conditional discharges.
