Executives of an Elmsford company that manages public housing were slow to fire the superintendent of a White Plains apartment building who allegedly raped a child and sexually harassed several tenants, according to a Westchester County agency.
The county Fair Housing Board accused Community Housing Management Corp. and its president, Eugene Conroy, and director of operations, Cindy Mauro, of failure to take prompt action for nearly seven years to end discriminatory housing practices at Madison House Apartments in White Plains.
The housing board accused the former superintendent, Jose Feliciano, of engaging in quid pro quo sexual harassment, creating a hostile environment and threatening tenants who complained about him.
“Everyone has the right to be free from sexual harassment and intimidation in their home,” according to the Jan. 23 complaint filed in U.S. District Court, White Plains, But for nearly seven years female residents of Madison House “were repeatedly sexually harassed, victimized and preyed upon.”
Community Housing manages 32 properties, including 28 in Westchester. It has been managed by Madison House since 1972.
Madison House is an 8-story, 99-unit structure on Ferris Avenue near the White Plains Metro-North train station. It was built in 1971, according to the compliant, as low-income, government subsidized housing. It is owned by Marathon Development Group, a Peekskill company that also is named as a defendant.
Feliciano was hired as superintendent in 2013. The company only hired married men as superintendents, according to a comment attributed to Conroy, because the building would be a playground for single men taking advantage of female residents.
Within two months Conroy began receiving anonymous complaints accusing Feliciano of engaging in romantic relationships with tenants and offering drugs and money for sex.
From 2014 to 2019, the management company fielded allegations that the superintendent was harassing women sexually, entering their apartments without their permission, and threatening them when they complained, according to the lawsuit filed by Westchester County Attorney John M. Nonna and assistant county attorney Christopher J. Inzero.
One couple claimed that Feliciano had sex with their child for two years when she was 14 to 16 years old. They accused him of statutory rape, but the complaint does not say whether Feliciano was ever charged or convicted of such a crime.
Another woman who complained claimed that Feliciano spit on her and threatened to assault her with a broom. When a security company tried to get video footage of the incident they discovered that the camera system had been sabotaged and the password changed.
Only Feliciano had access to change the password, according to the complaint, and he was spending a lot of time in the camera room watching the movements of residents.
Feliciano was repeatedly warned in writing that he could be fired, the complaint states. But management also defended him to the owner, Marathon Development.
In 2016, for instance, Conroy allegedly sent an email to a Marathon executive stating that Feliciano “is doing an excellent job. There are some very difficult tenants at Madison House. … For the record I would hire Jose again for Madison House or any of my properties.”
Conroy allegedly described Madison House as a tough building that needed a strong superintendent, and Feliciano was strong.
But by late 2019, Conroy was thinking about firing his superintendent for insubordination, according to the complaint, and for allegedly renting out parking spaces and the community room to non-residents “for his personal pecuniary benefit.”
In July 2020, Community Housing fired Feliciano.
Community Housing violated federal and county fair housing laws, according to the complaint. The owners and managers knew, or should have known, about Feliciano’s “predatory campaign of harassment, discrimination and intimidation,” the complaint states, but “refused to take appropriate action. The consequences were shattering.”
The housing board is asking the court to declare that housing laws were violated, order Community Housing and Marathon to remedy discriminatory conduct and to award unspecified damages to the tenants who complained.
Community Housing attorney Bhavleen K. Sabharwal was unable to immediately get in touch with her client to discuss a request for comment on the allegations. Feliciano’s attorneys, Jeffrey Y.A. Spiegel and Maxwell Margulies, did not reply to a request for comment.
