Landlord sentenced in tenants' carbon monoxide deaths

Nearly three years after the carbon-monoxide deaths of three tenants in a West Babylon house, Brentwood landlord Wilson Milord was sentenced Wednesday to 1 to 3 years in prison for installing the gas-powered generator that caused the fatal fumes.

Milord, 50, was led away in handcuffs in Suffolk County Court in Riverside after County Court Judge James Hudson refused to allow him to withdraw his guilty pleas.

The sentencing brought to an apparent end Milord's bizarre legal odyssey, during which he changed attorneys several times and at one point faced the possibility of acting as his own attorney.

On the eve of jury selection for his trial in June, Milord pleaded guilty to criminally negligent homicide in the November 2007 deaths of his tenants, who lived at 437 Sunrise Hwy., in West Babylon. He also pleaded guilty to second-degree grand larceny, in connection to mortgage frauds involving properties he owned, and to second-degree forgery for identity theft.

Ricardo Pearce, 27, Tanisha Armstrong, 25, and Armstrong's daughter, Talani Johnson, 4, died from fumes emitted by the generator, prosecutors said.

When he pleaded guilty, Milord acknowledged having installed a generator at the West Babylon house after the Long Island Power Authority cut electricity to the house because the bills had not been paid. But Wednesday, Milord maintained his innocence in court and blamed the tenants for installing the generator.

"I'm not doing crime over here," Milord told Hudson. "Why are we trying to destroy me?"

In an interview with News 12 Long Island, Armstrong's mother, Bettina Lewis, of Hempstead, said Milord should spend more time behind bars.

"He killed people," Lewis said. "My daughter's life is gone. Her birthday was just Saturday and the only thing I have of my daughter is a cold tombstone and the hard ground."

Before Milord was sentenced, seven people, including members of his family, stood vigil outside the courthouse with signs bearing messages of support.

"We know he's innocent," said Milord's sister-in-law, Irma Sarabia, of Uniondale. "He's a good husband, father, neighbor and a good friend."

But Hudson said he was not moved by Milord's statement in court.

"Any sympathy I have is completely reserved for your victims," Hudson said to Milord. "It was greed, Mr. Milord. . . . The losses caused by your greed are measured not just in dollars, but in lives."

Assistant District Attorney Thalia Stavrides called Milord's crimes "deplorable" and said the victims' deaths were "prolonged and painful."

She said no evidence supports Milord's claim that tenants installed the generator.

"He put that generator in the home," she said outside court. "He's still apparently living in his own world."