BEDFORD-STUYVESANT — When Jimmy Leary finally gained entry to the candy store he'd run for 40 years, inside which his cat had been locked for weeks after Leary was evicted, he found a scene of squalor.
Dozens of roaches scurried between several empty cat food cans, Styrofoam cups and assorted trash littered the floor in a back room where a landlord representative had apparently been setting out food for the cat, named Sheshe.
“It stinks so bad. It’s crazy the way they’re doing me,” Jimmy Leary said Monday after he and family members were allowed back into the former Jimmy's Candy Store to clear out decades worth of belongings.
“The store was clean, I keep my place clean.”
Asked about the condition of the back room before he was evicted in May, Leary said, "It was a clean store."
His daughter, Deborah Leary, added, "You couldn't have a store open like that," referring to the pile of garbage. "They didn't have to do this. This is unnecessary, this is unacceptable."
DNAinfo New York's request for comment to the building's landlord, 406 Tompkins Equity LLC, went unanswered.
A representative for the landlord told DNAinfo on Friday that the Learys had abandoned Sheshe, stating that they "refuse to pick up the cat so the cat is in good care" with an animal rescue organization.
The Learys, however, deny that they abandoned the cat.
"I did not / have not abandoned our family cat," said Deborah Leary in a July 9 text message to a landlord representative. "I love my cat."
The text message was provided to DNAinfo by an attorney representing 406 Tompkins Equity LLC. Deborah Leary confirmed the message was hers.
The store closed on May 27 when Leary was evicted following a court ruling in favor of the building’s new deed holder, 406 Tompkins Equity LLC.
The business received a 30-day notice of termination in September, two months after 406 Tompkins Equity LLC bought the building for $1.275 million.
Legal documents detailed the business had an expired lease and a judge ordered the business to pay $4,000 in back rent in February.
Jimmy Leary, 78, contends that the new owners increased the rent and never came to pick up payment.
“My heart can’t let me go in there,” Jimmy Leary said before stepping into his shop on Monday.
Once inside, Jimmy Leary, friends and family members said they were shocked to find the store’s backroom strewn with garbage and open cat food tins.
The family said they had not accessed the business since May 27, but said they believed the landlord's representatives had been inside since to feed Sheshe.
Court documents also indicated that landlord representatives were caring for the store’s cat since the eviction, and a June 12 court order directed the landlord to return the cat to the Learys.
Text messages beginning June 29 between a landlord representative and Deborah Leary show attempts from both parties seeking to make arrangements to give the Learys access to the store.
According to a representative for the landlord, Sheshe was removed from the store last week. Sources confirmed on Friday that Sheshe was taken to a no-kill shelter and received routine veterinary care.
The cat is in good condition, in good spirits and looked to have been eating regularly, sources said.
Deborah Leary and a family member said they have been in contact with the organization to make arrangements to retrieve the cat.
