Finally, the board announced a reprieve of sorts. Mr. Caballero could stay until July, rather than leaving in April.

As articles about the conflict came out in the Daily News and Gothamist, the board members kept silent. Their underlying story — of criminal activity among some now-former maintenance men — was too inflammatory, bad for both community peace of mind and co-op reputation, Mr. Lipping said.

The one neighbor to whom Mr. Lipping had confided, Michael Grinthal, had rejected it as reason to evict Mr. Caballero.

Mr. Grinthal, 45, a housing lawyer, said he had sensed that something shady had been going on. “I knew there were things I didn’t know,” he said. “This felt like, Ah, this is what that all was.”

But he added, “I don’t think that should be brought to bear on the question of whether Hector, who didn’t have anything to do with it — why is that being raised to color this decision?”

Mr. Lipping said he hoped the furor would die down as people got on with their lives. In the meantime, the board hired a publicist to help tell its side of the story.

“I want to make sure this gets done right,” Mr. Lipping said. “It’s my home, too. If people don’t like me, whatever. But it’s important for me that we do this right. In the beginning we made some missteps, misjudging the reaction. But we’re not professionals. We’re just volunteers.