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She put out the welcome mat — and had the rug pulled out from under her.
A Hamptons artist claims a temporary house guest turned into a squatter who has refused to leave her Bridgehampton home for more than a year.
Lynn Matsuoka, a painter and author who was once married to a sumo wrestler, says alleged interloper Gregg Solomon even forced her to cancel a desperately needed knee surgery because he is occupying the sole bedroom she says she can use for her recovery, and allegedly threatens her with violent outbursts whenever she demands he leave.
The homeowner says Solomon calls himself her tenant, and has taken takes full advantage of the state’s eviction moratorium and pandemic protections. Solomon filed a COVID-19 financial hardship declaration and has sought rental assistance from the state, even though Matsuoka says she didn’t ask him for rent.
He is “a parasite,” said Matsuoka, 75.
“I would tell him, ‘You have to get out,’ and he would scream at me. It was ear-splitting. But he never makes contact,” she said.
She’s given Solomon several eviction notices. His claimed COVID-19 financial hardship declaration, signed in April, along with applying for rental assistance, has indefinitely put the brakes on any attempt to evict him, Matsuoka’s lawyer said.
Judges won’t even listen to an eviction case until a person’s rental assistance application is decided, said attorney James Vlahadamis.
It doesn’t seem to matter that Matsuoka says she never asked Solomon for rent.
“Where’s the remedy to a woman like this, who is getting screwed over by the system at 75-years-old?” the lawyer said. “She’s in almost the worst scenario she can be in under the law.”
Matsouka says Solomon needed a place to go for just a month when a mutual acquaintance suggested he stay with Matsuoka in September 2020. She agreed, saying she asked only for a one-time $500 deposit for utilities and potential damages. He instead gave her $1,000, she said.
Solomon (upper inset) ultimately forked over a total of $4,000 but never left, she said, and quickly stopped paying. He went from “soft spoken and charming” to “bellowing [and] screeching” whenever she told him to get out, Matsuoka told The Post.
“He’s like ‘Jekyll and Hyde,’” she said.
She was forced to cancel an April knee surgery, she says, because Solomon is occupying the first floor bedroom she needs for her recuperation. Her health has since gone quickly downhill, with constant pain, rising blood pressure, lost weight and mobility issues, Matsuoka said.
Matsuoka and Solomon have each called Southhampton cops multiple times, but no arrests have been made — and officers told Matsuoka they cannot remove Solomon because he’s been in her home more than 30 days, giving him squatter’s rights, she said.
“He’s a con man. They come off as charming and nice but he’s full of crap,” she said. “He walks in and out of here with impunity, like he owns the place.”
A previous landlord says she had paid Solomon to move out early.
Solomon could not immediately be reached for comment.
Southhampton police didn’t respond to a call for comment. Matsuoka, who now sleeps with her bedroom door locked, claims an investigator from the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office also took no action.
“He’s broken something in me,” she said of Solomon. “I have to get him out of here of here or I’m going to die.”
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