A Nigerian woman who says she has left her abusive husband has become a Goldilocks of Long Island’s wealthy Hamptons mansions.
In recent months, Peace Ofoego, 32, has been found sleeping in the backyards, pool houses and bedrooms of homeowners in Westhampton.
She has been arrested three times since the end of May for trespassing, the New York Post reports, but has entered a total of seven properties within the village.
In some cases, the homeowners refused to file a report.
Ofoego was first spotted in Westhampton Beach over Memorial Day weekend, when a resident reported to police that a “black woman in a black trench coat and sandals” was wandering through the construction site in the backyard of his four-bedroom rental home — about a year and a half ago. miles from the village train station.
When police arrived on May 29, she told them he had no ID or credit cards because she had been robbed while living in Washington DC.
She also said she had traveled to New York City a few days earlier, from where she had boarded a railroad to Westhampton Beach, where she said she was looking for a hotel room near the ocean.
Police then helped Ofoego find a local shelter for the homeless, the Post reports, where she said she wanted to charge her computer “and transfer money to an account.”
But just a few days later, on June 2, she was spotted again by the wealthy neighborhood — and it wouldn’t be the last time.
In recent months, Peace Ofoego, 32 (pictured), has been found sleeping in the backyards, pool houses and bedrooms of homeowners in Westhampton.
She has been arrested three times for trespassing since late May, but entered a total of seven properties within the village
Authorities say Ofoego went through an unlocked gate leading from the beach to a $275,000 eight-bedroom rental property on exclusive Dune Road.
She then reportedly entered the house through an unlocked back deck, where she lingered until police showed up — and charged her with criminal trespass.
“The person concerned stated that she was staying in a house down the road and entered the indicated house to ask someone for a restaurant to eat,” says a police report obtained by the Post.
Just two days later, on June 4, Ofoego was again “staying” in the pool house of a property that rents for $35,000 a month.
When the police showed up that time and tried to find another homeless shelter for Ofoego, “peace began to run away,” one officer wrote in his report, adding that he warned her that if she continued to roam in village houses, she would reappear. would be arrested for trespassing.
“She left the area on foot.”
John Mallon, the owner of the home, said that while he wanted to document the incident, he would not press charges against her.
Ofoego’s last encounter with the Westhampton Police Department took place on June 24 at a seven-bedroom “typical beachfront estate” available to rent for a whopping $280,000 in July and August.
According to the police report, she walked into the second-floor bedroom and startled the homeowner.
The police were then called to the scene and arrested her.
But when they were processing her paperwork with the police, Ofoego is said to have told the police that they were mistaken and that she simply “went in to see the rental property.”
“You just want to arrest me,” she allegedly accused them. “I was just looking for a rental place.”
Authorities report that Ofoego would sneak into some of the millionaire’s homes, like this one, after leaving the door unlocked
Ofoego now spends her days walking through the village and along the beach, residents report on Facebook.
Some have said they’ve seen her on back roads, on Main Street, in a gazebo where bands play during the summer months, and at a local marina.
She is sometimes seen wearing the same black trench coat and black knit hat as in May, despite the high temperatures.
For example, Janet Feldman said at the Westhampton Beach Area Community Forum that she saw Ofoego walking on the beach and Dune Road in the morning while walking her dog.
“She seems mentally unwell for sure,” Feldman wrote.
Marie Costelli also noted: ‘A few weeks ago she approached me in Lidl asking for help. She needed money to pay for her groceries.
“When I handed her some money, which she took, a man who may have been the store manager asked her to leave,” Costelli said. “I felt sorry for her. I hope she gets the help she needs.”
Ofoego now says she plans to defend herself in court by refusing a court-ordered public defender during hearings on July 6 and July 13.
During one of those hearings, Liam Anthony DeFronzo wrote, Ofoego argued with the judge.
And days earlier, the Post reports, when officers tried to serve her with a subpoena to appear in court, she told them they were harassing her and threatened to sue them.
“It seemed to me that she is angry with where she is in life and with the system,” DeFronzo posited. “Eventually it looks like she’s looking for a place to sleep, but of course you never know what she’s going to do, and breaking into houses isn’t acceptable.
‘Does she really want help finding some sort of shelter and is she doing this as a cry for help? I don’t know, but I felt compelled to help her in court recently,” he said.
Ofoego is due to appear in court again on July 27.
Residents on Facebook have reported seeing her walking around town
Ofoego now claims that she was on the run from her abusive husband and is trying to find a place to raise her children.
She told the Post that she was born in Nigeria but has lived in the United States for the past 13 years — when she left the country when she was 19 and settled in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, where she began studying medical sciences. at Southern University.
She also said that her father is a journalist in Nigeria and that she attended boarding schools before coming to the United States.
Ofoego ended up in Westhampton, she claims, after fleeing her abusive husband in Florida. She then made her way to DC and then to New York City, where she claims she was forcibly pushed down the subway stairs in May.
She then made her way to Westhampton, where she said she was unaware that the beaches were restricted to local residents.
“All I want is some simple kindness from strangers,” she told the Post. “But nobody cares about me.”
Ofoego also says her parents in Nigeria know she is homeless but can’t do anything about it.
She previously told police she has an aunt in Louisiana, and when they called Ugoo Onyenekwu, she said Ofoego was “walking around looking for a location where she can regain custody of her children, who are currently in California.”
It’s unclear how many children Ofoego has, but a November 4, 2020 police report from Florida shows she was arrested for “failing to register a motor vehicle.” She had “seven juvenile passengers” in the car at the time.
Police said she presented “a foreign passport” as identification and failed to show up for her arraignment.
She was arrested again in 2017 by officers in Lake County, Florida for driving without a license — which she claimed she never had.
Ofoego has lived in various locations in Florida since then, the Post reports, working with her husband Marquis Duvuall Hudson for a company called Meticulous Cleaning Services in Boca Raton.
Court documents appear to support her claims that her husband, Marquis Duvuall Hudson, 40, was abusive. He was charged with ‘household battery for a pregnant woman’ in 2018, but the charges were dropped when Ofoego failed to appear in court
Court documents appear to support her claim that he was abusive.
Hudson, now 40, was charged with resisting arrest and assaulting an officer in 2017. He was then sentenced to 11 months in prison.
After he was released, police records show that he allegedly beat Ofoego while she was pregnant.
She had called the police the day after Christmas in 2018, saying that they had argued five days earlier while putting cleaning supplies in a storage cupboard.
A police report alleges that Hudson “accused her of wanting to leave the country, and the two got into an argument,” during which “Marquis grabbed her by the throat and began to choke her.”
Ofoego told police she was having trouble breathing and nearly passed out.
‘I asked Peace if Marquis is able to kill her or her children, [to] to which she said ‘yes,’ wrote Officer Tobias Andrews.
“Marquis knew at the time of the battery that Peace is pregnant.”
He was charged with “domestic assault against a pregnant woman,” but when Ofoego failed to appear in court to testify against him, the case was dropped.