A Hamptons landlady mailed rat poop to would-be summer renters of her tony beach house — in an effort to terrorize them out of recovering their deposits.
Despite pleading guilty to the sick scheme, Sheila Friedman, 75, got off with just five months of house arrest at her sentencing Thursday in Brooklyn Federal Court, with the judge citing her age and medical issues as the reason for the sweetheart deal.
“It’s clear to me that she intended no physical harm, but she clearly intended psychological harm,” said Judge Carol Bagley Amon, calling Friedman — who appeared in a wheelchair and neck brace — “very vindictive.”
The Florida resident was accused of requesting down payments, ranging from $2,500 to $117,000, from prospective tenants of her West Hampton Dunes home — which she then refused to return.
When the disgruntled vacationers sued or threatened to take legal action, Friedman sought to “intimidate or terrorize” them by sending them disturbing substances, according to court documents.
The malicious mailings twice triggered a police response, including once in 2011, when Friedman sent a couple an anonymous letter with a black, powdery substance — that cops eventually determined wasn’t hazardous.
Friedman swindled at least five victims between 2011 and 2017 — in many cases, pocketing the payments before the rental agreement was signed and then telling the guests they could no longer use her pad, prosecutors said.
In one case, someone actually got to stay at the home for one week in July 2015 after plunking down a $5,000 security deposit — only to have Friedman falsely claim the renter wrecked her home to the tune of $20,000 in damages, court documents said.
When the renter said they’d be suing, Friedman mailed them rat poop and metal shavings.
Friedman pleaded guilty in November to mailing one or more communications through the United States mail that contained threats to injure the recipient.
In addition to the five months of home confinement, Friedman was given five years of probation, and ordered to pay more than $74,000 in restitution to her victims plus a $30,000 fine. Prosecutors had requested 10 to 16 months of imprisonment.
The easy sentence was cold comfort for at least one of Friedman’s victims.
“I don’t care that she was 75 years old. What she did was wrong. She violated the law over and over and over again,” said Phyllis Ferrantello, who lost cash in the scam but wasn’t sent one of the threatening letters.
“In my opinion, she was a swindler…it pisses me off,” Ferrantello added.
Friedman declined to comment.
