Fugitive ex-landlord surrenders to face criminal charges of lead paint violations

Fugitive ex-landlord surrenders to face criminal charges of lead paint violations

Afugitive considered by government officials to have been among the worst – if not the worst – rental housing operators in Buffalo surrendered Tuesday at the federal courthouse.

Facing criminal charges related to lead-paint violations, Angel Elliot Dalfin made his initial court appearance by participating remotely by videoconference from the U.S. Marshals Service cellblock, according to a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Buffalo.

At the height of his operation, Dalfin owned or controlled more than 150 single- and two-family homes on the city's East Side, rented mostly to low-income people of color. At least 63 of the houses were cited for lead paint hazards, and 29 children living in 22 of the homes suffered lead poisoning, according to the state Attorney General's Office.

Dalfin operated using a web of 19 companies, shuffling properties among them, according to court records. His houses were among the tens of thousands of rental properties in Buffalo constructed before 1978 that contain lead paint. Lead poisoning can be prevented if the homes are properly maintained. But Dalfin failed to maintain them, allowing lead paint to deteriorate, and he also provided deficient and false lead disclosures – or no disclosures at all – to tenants and purchasers of his properties, according to the civil lawsuit brought by the state Attorney General's Office.

 

With the poisoning of children from lead paint in aging rental housing an ongoing public health crisis in Buffalo, state and federal authorities turned their attention to Dalfin, who they say flouted their efforts to hold him accountable by concealing his location, identity and assets, according to court records. By the time the state sued him in September 2020, he was already unloading the properties.

Dalfin eventually stopped replying to court orders and never personally appeared at any hearings in the state court civil case, and he was considered a fugitive in a related criminal case over the lead paint allegations filed in federal court in May 2021, according to court records.

At his court appearance Tuesday, the judge entered a plea of not guilty on Dalfin's behalf, and Dalfin waived a preliminary hearing. 

Federal prosecutors did not oppose his release from custody under certain conditions. Magistrate Judge H. Kenneth Schroeder Jr. released him on a $50,000 cash bond and placed him on home detention with electronic monitoring, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office. 

Dalfin faces counts of wire fraud and making and using a materially false document.

Dalfin retained attorneys Michael Blotnik and Herbert Greenman to represent him, according to court records. Neither could be reached for comment.

Federal law requires sellers and landlords to disclose reports concerning lead-based paint to purchasers and tenants when selling or renting a home, even if the hazard has been mitigated. 

From 2010 until 2018, the only tenants in Dalfin's properties who received lead disclosures were the 40% to 50% of tenants with Section 8 funding, who received the disclosures under the direction of the public housing agencies that worked directly with the low-income tenants, according to an affidavit from a special agent with the Criminal Investigation Division of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The 50% to 60% of tenants who were not part of the Section 8 program did not receive any lead disclosures until 2018 or later, if at all.

"Even when tenants were provided the lead disclosure forms mandated by federal law, those disclosures repeatedly contained false statements to the tenants or prospective tenants, concealing hazardous conditions and the existence of reports pertaining to lead paint hazards in the premises," according to the EPA affidavit.
In April, State Supreme Court Justice Catherine Nugent Panepinto entered a default judgment against Dalfin, banning him from renting out or managing residential properties in New York State. She ruled that he engaged in 126 instances of deceptive acts or practices, engaged in repeated fraud and created a public nuisance. At a hearing before her, Assistant Attorney General Patrick Omilian said the state intended to seek a $5,000 fine for each of the 126 violations the state cited in its civil complaint against Dalfin, totaling $630,000. 

Last month, Paul R. Heil of Williamsville, a Buffalo Public Schools teacher who was the manager for Dalfin’s property holdings, was fined $15,000 by a federal judge. Heil pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor count of aiding and abetting the failure to provide a lead paint hazard warning notice for a property on two occasions. The plea settled the felony criminal charges he initially faced.

 

Last month, Paul R. Heil of Williamsville, a Buffalo Public Schools teacher who was the manager for Dalfin’s property holdings, was fined $15,000 by a federal judge. Heil pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor count of aiding and abetting the failure to provide a lead paint hazard warning notice for a property on two occasions. The plea settled the felony criminal charges he initially faced.

https://buffalonews.com/news/local/fugitive-ex-landlord-surrenders-to-face-criminal-charges-of-lead-paint-violations/article_d83f8804-fd2e-11ec-b5a9-33a129d4f0f6.html

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