Blame foreclosure on 'unhinged' acquaintance

A state judge has been asked to decide if a former Philipstown couple will have a chance to reclaim a Route 9 property they lost to foreclosure because of what they say was deception by an acquaintance.

Judge Gina Capone on Jan. 2 issued a temporary order restraining M&T Bank from transferring the deed for 3154 Route 9, which from 1995 to early 2024 was owned by Sokhara Kim through Mary Dawn Inc., and hosted her business, Nice & Neat Dry Cleaners; a residence she shared with her husband, Chakra Oeur; and a nail salon.

Kim and Oeur, immigrants from Cambodia who also operated a restaurant and art gallery at the property, were evicted on Dec. 9, ending a 17-month foreclosure process that began in August 2022 after Kim stopped making payments on a $570,000 mortgage held by M&T. Capone ordered the foreclosure in February 2024. Four months later, a bank subsidiary, Chesapeake Holdings, paid $620,200 for the property at an auction.

On Thursday (Jan. 15), Capone will hold a hearing to consider Kim and Oeur's defense — that they were victims of Derek Keith Williams, who met the couple when his girlfriend, Mauny Sun, owned the nail salon. According to court documents, Williams convinced Kim that he had paid off the mortgage. He hid the foreclosure by demanding that she "turn over any mail or paperwork relating to the property, Mary Dawn Inc., any court or any bank," said her attorney, Jacob Chen.

From the start, Chen argued, the court "never acquired personal jurisdiction" over Kim because the process server said he handed the original documents to a "co-worker." Chen also said that Oeur should have been included as a party to the foreclosure proceeding because he lived at the property and managed the Khmer Art Gallery.

Their loss of the property is a "deeply tragic — and profoundly avoidable — result" of the actions of "an unhinged and dangerous criminal who exercised coercive control over them," said Chen, who is asking Capone to vacate the foreclosure and give Kim and Oeur a chance to regain the property.

In a statement filed with the court, Kim said a personal loan she used to rebuild the property after a fire in 2005 had been taken over by M&T Bank when she met Williams through Bun in 2019. Kim said that Bun, whose mother she had known for over 30 years, "reminded me a lot of my daughter … and I put a lot of trust and faith in her." She decided to accept Williams' offer to buy the property for $1.2 million and transfer it to an entity called DKW Trust.

"I had worked tirelessly for many, many years at that point," said Kim. "I was excited about the opportunity to take a break from working and to be able to give something to my grandchildren, and so I agreed."

Williams requested access to the Mary Dawn bank account, provided Kim with "official-looking documents containing seals and stamps" and said he had paid off the mortgage and would let her live there while he "finalized" the trust, according to court documents.

In addition to demanding that any mail related to courts and the bank be turned over to him, he asked Kim to sign documents and submit filings without explaining what they were, and demanded access to her emails, according to court documents.

Williams "treated questions as disobedience — responding with rage, profanity and intimidation, including threats that she would 'lose everything,' that the property was 'his' and that he could have her evicted if she did not comply," according to court documents. Kim said she "got on my knees and begged" when Williams badgered her to take him shopping instead of taking Oeur to a hospital visit ahead of his looming kidney transplant.

Carmen Chuchuca, who assumed ownership of the nail salon, said Williams began collecting $2,500 per month in "rent" from her, saying he owned the property, which Kim confirmed to her. (Chuchuca moved out before the eviction and has reopened at 1806 Route 9D in Cold Spring.) Kim said she also provided Will...