Hurricane Sandy: no resolution after Ortley Beach house disappears

A year after his Ortley Beach house was demolished without his knowledge, Nick Maria is no closer to getting to the bottom of what happened. He stands on his empty lot Saturday afternoon. 11/16/13 (Andrew Mills/The Star-Ledger)

Six lots back from the ocean in Ortley Beach, Nick Maria’s narrow strip of the American Dream sits vacant, much like it had in the days after Hurricane Sandy.

It’s the lot that once held the summer home his 85-year-old father helped build. The house where Maria and his wife spent so much time they said they felt comfortable leaving their valuables behind when they went to their primary home in Whippany.

It is also the house that, after being bulldozed last year without his knowledge, is a hot potato.

While thousands of Hurricane Sandy survivors rebuild and return to their homes, Maria says he can’t because he still has no idea who demolished his house.

"It’s a mess. That’s all I know and I’m not getting any answers," said Maria, a retired record company executive. "This has become a nightmare."

Ortley Beach resident discovers his home was demolished by state, not Hurricane Sandy 17 Gallery: Ortley Beach resident discovers his home was demolished by state, not Hurricane Sandy

In the days after Sandy, he said, contractors razed Maria’s ranch without telling him. Based on images of Sandy’s destruction just hours and days after the storm, Maria said he knew his modular home had survived, even if it had been nearly completely knocked off its foundation. But when residents were finally allowed into the neighborhood to retrieve some of their belongings a couple of weeks later, his house was gone.

His attorney, Keith Shevenell, says Maria is not alone. He said he has at least a dozen other clients from the Ortley Beach section of Toms River who saw via photos that their homes had survived Sandy but who couldn’t find them when they were finally allowed access to the barrier island two weeks after the storm.

They all ask for explanations, but all get the run-around, Shevenell said.

State Department of Transportation officials have said Maria’s house had to be torn down because it was sitting in the road and was a hazard to emergency personnel. Maria has plenty of pictures he insists show the house was partially on the sidewalk, not in the street.

"The biggest concern is there’s a lot of stonewalling," Shevenell said. "You get phone numbers and get directed to people and you end up in a big circle."

Joe Dee, a DOT spokesman, said the company that did the demolition was Ferreira Construction and that he didn’t know how many houses the department removed from Ortley Beach. However, he said, "NJDOT removed 26 structures that had been knocked off their foundations and ended up on roadways or public rights-of-way" on that northern peninsula.

Maria wants to file a lawsuit, but doesn’t know who to sue. He’s put the state on notice that he may sue. Shevenell said Maria has a claim number from the state Treasury Department, but can’t reach anyone in that agency to tell him whether the state has begun to investigate the case or if it even plans to investigate.

Shevenell said he’s sent "countless faxes" and certified letters to the Treasury Department seeking an update to the case but he’s gotten no replies.

Maria said he’s been steered by the state’s Division of Taxation to an employee in the state Department of Treasury’s risk management division. He and his lawyer have called the same number dozens of times. No one ever answers and there’s no voicemail, he says. He said he has also tried to find Treasury department employees at Gov. Chris Christie’s past two mobile cabinet meetings, where staff members travel to Sandy-affected counties to meet with storm victims. Each time he went, he says, no one from treasury was there.

"It’s become a hot potato," he said. "Nobody wants to touch it."

Bill Quinn, a spokesman for the Treasury Department, said the number Maria and his attorney have called is no longer good for the employee they were trying to find. Quinn supplied The Star-Ledger with a new number. Maria said he tried that number 15 times since Nov. 18 and has gotten voicemails each time.

Quinn said a department representative attends some, but not all, of the mobile cabinet sessions.

Without answers to those questions, Maria said he’s getting the run-around from the insurance company providing his homeowners coverage.

With the help of a lawyer, he’s compiled a 13-page list of things that were in his house — everything from a $3.19 bottle of balsamic vinegar to his wife’s $12,000 pair of gold and diamond earrings — that are now gone.

Stolen, he says.

Toms River Police Chief Michael Mastronardy agrees. He said his department was investigating the incident as a stolen house when the matter was taken over by the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office. The only time he remembers a similar type investigation was several years ago when a mobile home was stolen.

"It was very strange," he said of Maria’s situation.

Al Della Fave, spokesman for the prosecutor’s office, said the matter is back to the township level after the prosecutor’s office determined there was no criminal wrongdoing.

"We looked at it for anything criminal. Once it was determined there was nothing criminal, it’s now in the hands of the township," Della Fave said. "That’s it. We’re out of it. We assume it will be a civil matter."

Maria said every time an adjuster for Narragansett Bay Insurance Company agrees to submit his $140,000 claim and assures him he’ll see a check, the company changes adjusters and he has to start from scratch. He said he’s now on his seventh adjuster.

John Houle, a spokesman for Narragansett, said the insurance company has cooperated with Maria and paid out on one Sandy-related claim, but won’t comment on the latest claim.

"Narragansett Bay Insurance settled a storm claim with the Marias for wind/water related damage covered under their homeowner’s policy," Houle said in a written statement. "Recently a new claim was reported by the Marias’ attorney for theft of personal property to the home, and it is the policy of Narragansett Bay Insurance Company to protect their customer’s privacy and not comment on active claims."

Maria just wants answers. He’s been to the mayor of Whippany and he’s turned to the offices of his congressman and state senator.

"I want to know what do I do," Maria said. "I want answers to who tore my house down, why they tore it down, and where’s my stuff."

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