A Nigerian woman who says she left her abusive husband has become a Goldilocks of the affluent Hamptons mansions on Long Island.
In recent months, Peace Ofoego, 32, has been found asleep in the backyards, pool houses and second floor bedrooms of homeowners in Westhampton.
She has been arrested three times for trespassing since the end of May New York Post reported, but entered a total of seven properties within the village.
In some cases, homeowners have refused to press charges.
Ofoego was first spotted in Westhampton Beach over Memorial Day weekend when a local resident reported to police that a “black woman wearing a black trench coat and sandals” was wandering through the backyard construction site of his four-bedroom rental property — just about a mile away Village train station.
When police arrived on May 29, she told them he had no ID or credit cards because she was robbed while living in Washington DC.
She also said she had traveled to New York City a few days earlier, from where she boarded a train to Westhampton Beach, where she said she was looking for a hotel room near the ocean.
Police then helped Ofoego find a local homeless shelter, the Post reports, where she said she wanted to charge her computer “and put money into an account.”
But just a few days later, on June 2, she wandered through the affluent district again – and it wasn’t to be the last time.
In recent months, Peace Ofoego, 32 (pictured), has been found sleeping in the backyards, pool houses and second floor bedrooms of homeowners in Westhampton
She has been arrested three times for trespassing since late May, but has entered a total of seven properties in the village
Authorities say Ofoego entered through an unlocked gate leading from the beach to a $275,000 eight-bedroom rental on exclusive Dune Road.
She then allegedly entered the house through an unlocked back deck, where she stayed until police showed up – and charged her with criminal trespassing.
“The test subject indicated that they lived in a house down the street and entered the specified apartment to ask someone about a place to eat,” according to a police report obtained by the Post.
Then, just two days later, on June 4, Ofoego was spotted again in the pool house of a $35,000-a-month property for rent.
When police showed up at the time trying to find another homeless shelter for Ofoego, “the peace started to go away,” one officer wrote in his report, adding he warned her she would be arrested again for trespassing if she continued to wander into the houses of the village.
“She left the area on foot.”
John Mallon, the owner of the home, said while he wanted to document the incident, he didn’t want to press charges against her.
Ofoego’s last encounter with Westhampton Police was on June 24 at a seven-bedroom “substantial beachfront property” that was listed for rent in July and August for a whopping $280,000.
According to the police report, she went into the bedroom on the second floor 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 reportedly told the officers they were wrong and she just “went in to look at the rent.”
“They just want to arrest me,” she is said to have accused them. “All I did was look for a place to rent.”
Authorities report that Ofoego snuck into some of the millionaire’s homes, like this one, after leaving the door unlocked
Ofoego now spends her days strolling through the village and along the beach, local residents report on Facebook.
Some have said they’ve seen them on back roads, on the main street, at a pavilion where bands play in the summer months, and at a local marina.
She sometimes wears the same black trench coat and black knitted hat she was reported in in May – despite hot temperatures.
Janet Feldman, for example, commenting on the Westhampton Beach Area Community Forum, said she saw Ofoego walking the beach and down Dune Road while she was walking her dog in the morning.
“She certainly appears to be mentally ill,” Feldman wrote.
Marie Costelli also commented: “A few weeks ago she approached me at Lidl and asked for help. She needed money to pay for her groceries.
“When I gave her some cash, 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 intends to defend herself in court and declined a court-appointed public defender at the July 6 and 13 hearings.
At 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 a subpoena to appear in court, she told them they would harass her and threatened to sue her.
“It seemed like she was angry at where she was in life and at the system,” DeFronzo posited. “Ultimately she seems to be looking for a place to sleep but of course you never know what she might do and breaking into houses is not acceptable.
“Does she really want help finding shelter and is she doing this as a cry for help? I don’t know, but I felt compelled to help her in the courtroom the other day,’ he said.
Ofoego is scheduled to appear in court again on July 27.
Local residents on Facebook have reported that she was walking around town
Ofoego now claims she fled her abusive husband and is trying to find a place to raise her children.
She told the Post she was born in Nigeria but had lived in the United States for 13 years — when she left the country at 19 and settled in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, where she began studying medicine at Southern University.
She also said her father was a journalist in Nigeria and that she was educated in 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 violently pushed down the subway stairs in May.
She then made her way to Westhampton, where she said she wasn’t aware the beaches were restricted to residents.
“All I want is just a 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 cannot do anything about it.
She has previously told police she has an aunt in Louisiana, and when they called Ugoo Onyenekwu, she said Ofoego had “moved around looking for a place where she could regain custody of her children, who are currently struggling.” located in California”.
It’s unclear how many children Ofoego has, but a November 4, 2020 Florida police report shows she was pulled over for “failing to register a motor vehicle.” At the time, she had “seven youthful passengers” in the car.
Police reported that she presented a “foreign passport” as identification and did not show up for her indictment.
She was pulled over again by officers in Lake County, Fla. in 2017 for driving without a license — which she allegedly claimed never had.
Since then, Ofoego has lived in multiple locations in Florida in recent years, the Post reports, working with her husband, Marquis Duvuall Hudson, for a company in Boca Raton called Meticulous Cleaning Services.
Court documents appear to support her claims that her husband, Marquis Duvuall Hudson, 40, was abusive. He was charged with “household battery of 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 eleven months in prison.
After he got out, police records show that he allegedly hit Ofoego while she was pregnant.
She had called police the day after Christmas in 2018 and said they had had an argument five days earlier when they were putting cleaning supplies in a locker.
A police report claims Hudson “accused her of trying to leave the country and the two got into an argument” in which “Marquis grabbed her by the throat and started choking her.”
Ofoego told police she had trouble breathing and almost passed out.
“I asked Peace if Marquis is capable of killing her or her children. [to] which she said “yes,” wrote Officer Tobias Andrews.
‘Marquis was aware at the time of the battery that Peace was pregnant.’
He was charged with “domestic assault of a pregnant woman,” but when Ofoego failed to appear in court to testify against him, the case was dropped.
