Old Westbury squatter arrested in $3.5 million Growing Up Gotti mansion w/ stolen truck in driveway

A GPS on a stolen truck led Long Island police to the driveway of a famous Old Westbury mansion this week that used to be the home of the home of Teflon John Gotti.

Victoria Gotti and her future ex-husband, mobster Carmine Agnello, owned it next. They were divorced in 2003.

The big, fancy house was the setting of the "Growing Up Gotti" television series that ran from 2004 until it was cancelled in 2007. The New York Post reported that after Victoria Gotti stopped making their mortgage payments, the bank took it over.

The Gotti family moved out. It was empty. No buyers.

Like Einstein said, Nature abhors a vacuum.

The house has been vacant since 2016, when the FBI raided it looking for evidence of tax fraud, according to The New York Post.

On Friday, Old Westbury Police arrested "an unlawful resident 'squatter' " who's been living in the empty house on about 4 acres of pricey real estate, village officials announced.

No place like home -- not when it's 6 Birch Hill Court in Old Westbury. This is a file photo of the mansion in its better days.Photo byNassau County Land Records Bureau

Kiasheem Donte Ward was taken into custody early Friday morning, April 5, at 1:00 a.m.

Ward was charged with criminal possession of stolen property -- the $45,000 Penske truck in the driveway has been missing for over a year -- under New York Penal Laws 165.50 and 165.45 05. He was arraigned later that day before Judge Jaclene Agazarian in the Nassau County District Court in Hempstead.

The Felony charges carry a potential sentence of up to 7 years in a New York State prison and a maximum fine of $5,000.

Village Police said they were contacted Monday, April 1, 2024, by Penske Truck Rental's Security Department about recovering a stolen truck. They told police the GPS on a white 2022 GMC 3500 box truck, rented at JFK Airport in August 2023 and reported stolen 2 months later, had been traced to a house on Birch Hill Court in Old Westbury.

Trucks and cars were positioned in the driveway of a $3.5 million mansion -- currently in foreclosure, say police who arrested a squatter.Photo byC.J. Teevan

The tony village ranks as one of the wealthiest in the country, #10 on Forbes Magazine's list of Millionaire Capitals.

Detectives say that when they went to the house the next morning to investigate the Penske claim, the missing white 2022 GMC truck with Penske markings and South Carolina license plate was parked in the driveway.

Inside the truck, they said, was a red suitcase and shrink-wrapped cardboard boxes containing "possibly gasoline or kerosene".

They said the truck had "an altered VIN plate" and "altered federal stickers affixed to the driver's side door" -- issued, police said, to a 2015 Chevrolet Express 3500 van.

They also said the license plate "did not belong to the vehicle at the scene". They said it came from a 1996 GMC Savanna 1500 van that was registered to Ward.

Vehicles parked in the driveway outside.Photo byC.J. Teevan

Police say Ward, 37, was "occupying the foreclosed property at 6 Birch Hill Ct." as a "squatter".

Investigators went to the front door and rang the Ring camera doorbell, they said.

Ward answered, they said.

They informed Ward that the white truck in the driveway was stolen. They said he promised not to drive it, having learned this for the first time. Later, he asked for permission to remove his personal property from inside the truck.

Police say they got a search warrant to recover the Penske truck and towed it on Thursday April 4, 2024.

The next day, Ward was in handcuffs.

The Nassau County court assigned him a public defender and he pleaded Not Guilty to both Felony charges.

Sign at the Old Westbury Cul de Sac.Photo byC.J. Teevan

Then he was released. He is due back in court April 12, 2024.

New York State Department of Corrections has a record of an inmate named Kiasheen D. Ward born in 1987 who served a prison sentence for assault and dealing narcotics. Kiasheen D. Ward sued the NYPD for excessive force in his too-rough 2015 arrest. Records show he received a $15,000 settlement.

But after that case was over, Kiasheen D. Ward was sued by an NYPD sergeant Christopher Siani. The NYPD plaintiff argued for money because Ward assaulted him. He asked for the $15,000 pursuant to the Son of Sam law, which bars criminals from profiting from their crimes. Sergeant Siani got $8,438 plus legal fees after a court inquest in that case.

Old Westbury Police did not indicate how long Ward was squatting in the derelict cul-de-sac mansion. But court records show the foreclosed property was auctioned off October 26, 2022. The winning bid: $2.65 million, submitted by JPMorgan Chase.

Maybe Donald Trump and Hunter Biden need a place to hide out.

The FBI raided Chez Gotti in 2016, looking to dig up evidence of tax fraud.Photo byC.J. Teevan