Unwelcome to the Machine

The saga of retired Brooklyn judge John Phillips, first reported in full in the Nov. 24 issue of New York Press, continues its deranged journey through the court system, with the 80-year-old Phillips still under the pall of what appears to be a fraudulent guardianship program that wrested his $10 million estate into the hands of court-appointed thieves. Phillips' court files remain inexplicably sealed-even to John Phillips, who is stashed away in a room at the Bronx VA hospital and now has been fitted with an ankle bracelet that tracks his movements.

"They got me locked up here like a prisoner," he says. Why the judge in the Phillips case, Michael Pesce, countenances this foul treatment of one of his peers is beyond understanding. ÊÊÊÊMeanwhile, on December 20, fire broke out in Phillips' museum-like 50-year home on Herkimer St. in Brooklyn, apparently because a squatter accidentally set the place alight. Of course, if Phillips had control of his property, there'd have been no squatter and no fire. Instead, there's no insurance on the house, and the halls, full of cherished antiques, are now hollowed out by flame and sodden with water. Trapped in the Bronx, Phillips got to watch the event on tv, as the three-alarm fire made the evening news. ÊÊPhillips appears in court on January 4, when perhaps Judge Pesce will see fit to award him back his own house, now that it's a worthless shell.

-Christopher Ketcham