A landlord from The Villages has entered a plea in a case in which he is charged with setting his tenant’s couch on fire during an unlawful eviction.
Youssef El-Masry, 84, who owns a home in Villa Vera Cruz in the Village of Santo Domingo, is facing a felony charge of burglary, following his arrest in December by the Fruitland Park Police Department.
This week he entered a plea of not guilty in the case in Lake County Court.
El-Masry, who previously has been accused of keeping trashy rental property in The Villages, allegedly went Dec. 21 to his rental property on East Leah Court in Fruitland Park with a handyman and a removal crew, according to an arrest report. While they were on the property, El-Masry’s female tenant arrived home and found her couch in a burn pit in the backyard. She called law enforcement.
El-Masry told officers he had verbally told the woman he would be arriving at her home to remove her belongings. The native of Egypt claimed his tenant had not paid rent since September. El-Masry claimed she owed him $6,000.
However, in a counterclaim previously filed in Lake County Court, the woman had provided receipts proving her rent had been paid. She also said there was no verbal agreement for El-Masry to come to her home to evict her.
The handyman told police that El-Masry had burned the woman’s furniture in the backyard. Police saw metal frames from the furniture in the backyard burn pit.
El-Masry has had a troubled history as a landlord.
In 2022, tenants in The Villages claimed in court documents that El-Masry cut off their water and sabotaged the air conditioning system in their rented villa.
In 2020, neighbors went before the Community Development District 2 Board of Supervisors to complain about El-Masry’s trashy rental unit in Villa Vera Cruz.
El-Masry was also previously caught up in an insurance fraud case.
