Illegal Dump-Parking Lot Owner Arrested
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A man was arrested Wednesday for illegally running a dumping ground and parking lot on city-owned land in Brooklyn.
The district attorney's office announced in East New York that Darren Miller faces several charges including criminal trespassing and illegal vehicle dismantling.
They say more than 500 cars were found on Miller's Spring Creek lot, as well as 1,000 tires and hazardous waste.
The DA’s office said Miller also sold parking spaces on a vacant lot next to the Gateway Plaza Mall.
The city is shutting down the lot, leaving truck drivers scrambling to get their equipment.
"A lot of people have been betrayed,” said truck driver Clarence Stallworth. “A lot of companies around here don't have the proper paper work. A lot of peoples, they’re not here, a lot of peoples are out of state. They don't know about it and they’re going to miss out."
"He was doing it illegally, it's wrong. But two wrongs don't make a right,” said truck driver Kenny George. “Pushing us out on the street I think it wrong too. So I think the city should approach it in a different manner."
Miller's attorney said his client filed for legal possession of the land in 2005 under laws that allow people to take ownership after ten years of squatting.
But the DA's office said the argument will not hold up in court, because the city acquired the land with the intent of development.