Ex-Girlfriend Controls Lindsay Property : Councilman: Of five pieces of property he owned 18 months ago, only his modest home is now owned only by himself.

A former girlfriend of ailing City Councilman Gilbert Lindsay has control of most of his real estate holdings and is attempting to evict a disabled elderly couple from a house that Lindsay has rented to them for 20 years, records show.

Juanda Chauncie, 39, went to court to evict the couple last month, about six weeks after Lindsay suffered a stroke that left him partially paralyzed and unable to speak. Lindsay, whose 90th birthday is Thursday, remains hospitalized.

The tenants said that Lindsay is a longtime friend and neighbor who frequently sat on their porch to discuss the day’s news and the comings and goings of their South-Central Los Angeles community.

“One thing he always said was we could stay here . . . as long as we wanted,” said Mamie Henry, 73, who along with her husband, Walter, 69, is fighting the eviction.

Chauncie and her attorney, John Clark Brown Jr., did not return telephone calls about the matter over the last week. Reached by phone Tuesday, Chauncie told a Times reporter that she would call back, but did not.

Lindsay aide Sal Altamirano said Wednesday that Lindsay continued to handle his own financial affairs, even after suffering a mild stroke in late 1988. “I think anything Gil Lindsay did, he knew what he was doing,” he said. “His private life was his.”

Until 18 months ago, Lindsay owned three houses on East 52nd Place and at least two commercial lots in Los Angeles. Now, records show, the only piece of property he owns by himself is his modest home next door to the Henrys.

Chauncie was made a co-owner of the two commercial lots; the house rented by the Henrys was given to her outright, records show. The third house was sold in a transaction that was negotiated by Chauncie, according to the buyer.

Chauncie’s attempt to evict the Henrys and her acquisition of other Lindsay properties have raised concern among some at City Hall.

“I know Mr. Lindsay would do nothing that would hurt these people,” said Emma McFarlin, a City Council aide who is close to Lindsay. “With his big, kind heart, he wouldn’t have done this to a stranger.”

City Council President John Ferraro, a friend of Lindsay’s for decades, said last week he thinks an attempt should be made on behalf of Lindsay to recover the property.

“I’ve advised his attorneys to look into it,” Ferraro said. “He has some family. I think family should come first.”

Lindsay’s second wife, Theresa, died in 1984 and a son from his first marriage died last spring.

A daughter from his first marriage lives in Chicago and is said by Lindsay aides to be uninvolved in his financial affairs.

Lindsay’s stepson, Herbert Howard, who works in the councilman’s district office, refused to discuss what action he would take, if any.

Johnnie L. Cochran Jr., the attorney who drafted Lindsay’s will, said last week he has been contacted by Howard but would not elaborate.

Lindsay met Chauncie two or three years ago at a luncheon and saw her regularly until last summer, when the relationship ended, according to interviews.

Chauncie’s mother, Alberta Hysaw, said her daughter had been Lindsay’s girlfriend, but that he left her for a younger woman. Hysaw said her daughter operated a clothing business from a house in South-Central Los Angeles and is in the process of moving to a new house in Baldwin Hills.

Chauncie purchased the hilltop home with a swimming pool and view of the city for $339,500 in July, 1989, according to county records.

Ferraro said he had seen Lindsay with Chauncie three or four times at various public events. Lindsay said little about Chauncie, except “how beautiful she was,” Ferraro said. “I don’t know or understand the relationship.”

Arthur Snyder, a lobbyist and former councilman who is close to Lindsay, said he believed Chauncie was “very good to (Lindsay) and he doted on her.”

Lindsay once mentioned that he had given some real estate to Chauncie, but did not go into detail, Snyder said. “His property and his girlfriend were very personal to him.”

After Lindsay had a stroke in late 1988, his council attendance slipped and colleagues and staff members said he at times had difficulty following council proceedings.

Lindsay’s first gift to Chauncie, according to records, came in May, 1989, when he substituted her name for his late wife’s on the deeds to two commercial lots on South Central Avenue totaling 14,679 square feet.

The action made Chauncie a joint tenant, giving her joint control over the property while Lindsay is alive and sole control if she outlives him. The value of the property is not known.

Last December, Chauncie negotiated the $80,000 sale of one of Lindsay’s houses on East 52nd Place, according to Mona Lamb, 39, who bought the property. Chauncie was present at the closing and instructed Lindsay to sign the documents, Lamb said.

In the weeks after the sale, she said, Lindsay appeared confused. “He used to say, ‘Did I get my money for the property? Where’s my money?” or “That’s still my property,” she recalled.

There is no indication in county records that anyone other than Lindsay received money from the sale.

A month after the sale to Lamb, Lindsay deeded to Chauncie the house rented by the Henrys, county records show.

Since then, she borrowed $57,850 using the house as collateral and has put the house on the market. A sale is in escrow, according to Tom Lewis, the real estate agent. Lewis would not disclose the sale price, but said the asking price was $105,000.

As the sale progresses, the Henrys and their lawyer, Alan Finkel, have gone to court to fight the eviction.

In court papers, Chauncie said that the Henrys owe her $2,250 in back rent.

The Henrys said they have been paying Lindsay $300 a month, never have missed a payment and cannot afford to pay the money Chauncie is demanding. The legal work is being donated by Finkel’s firm, Proskauer, Rose, Goetz & Mendelsohn, through Bet Tzedek Legal Services.

The Henrys, with the help of relatives, have begun packing up their belongings, but said they do not know where they will go.

Walter Henry, a former tree trimmer for the city of Los Angeles, suffered a stroke in 1981 that weakened his right arm and left him unable to work. Mamie Henry, who worked for 35 years at Clifton’s Cafeteria, needs a portable oxygen machine 24 hours a day to aid her breathing. She said she suffers from emphysema and has only one functioning lung, the result of a case of tuberculosis in 1935.

“I’m hoping the Lord will send somebody along to help me. . . . I don’t think Juanda’s going to let me stay here.”

The Henrys’ granddaughter, Sylvia Pegues, and her husband, Larry, said last week they met with Lindsay last May for about two hours in an attempt to sort out confusion over the house.

“He was not aware that this house was not his anymore,” Pegues said. She said she had obtained a copy of a deed to the home and attempted to explain to Lindsay that the house apparently no longer belonged to him. “He kept . . . saying, ‘You mean the house isn’t mine anymore?’ ”

A former housekeeper for Lindsay, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said she was present from time to time during the two-hour meeting and heard Lindsay say he thought he still owned the house the Henrys lived in.

Lindsay, who has served on the council for 27 years, has 2 1/2 years remaining on his term. But his colleagues have set the stage to remove him from office, possibly as early as January. The City Charter allows removal if a councilman has been out of the city for 60 days or more without consent of the council. Lindsay has been hospitalized in Inglewood, just outside the city limits.