Jun 20, 2008 12:05 am US/Pacific
Problem Neighbor Draws Complaints In Santa Rosa
SANTA ROSA (CBS 5) ―
Residents in a quiet Santa Rosa neighborhood say they have been dealing with a nuisance for years: a house that seems to draw trouble and even illegal activities. They asked CBS 5 Investigates to find out why they are the ones stuck with the job of policing their neighbor.
It's a house that's been under surveillance for nearly a year, not by police or the FBI but by the neighbors.
"[I was] gathering evidence against people that were violent or potentially violent," said Allen Thomas with the neighborhood association.
Tyson Ducker who also lives in the neighborhood concurs. "Loud arguments, or narcotics deals going on in plain view," Ducker said.
Residents say the problems in the neighborhood began with the house owned by "Junior" Oseguera and the people living in the house with him. Neighbors started seeing things that alarmed them, people who were drunk or appeared to be on drugs, and a lot of what looked like drug dealing.
"You do what you've been told to do: call the police," said neighbor Lea Thomas. But they did, not just once, but over and over, making hundreds of calls to police over the past four years that resulted in dozens of arrests at the house, for narcotics, prostitution and assaults.
"There's still activity going on at this house," said Allen Thomas.
"It's like calling to put a fire out, and the fire gets put out, but it just goes ablaze the moment the police leave again," said neighbor Tyson Ducker.
It's not just the residents of the neighborhood that are raising concerns.
"I complain all the time and I call the police all the time," said Linda Conklin, who is the principal of the elementary school, less than half a block away. "The crack house people come down here each morning, before school starts, one of the staff members or teachers comes out and either wakes up people who sleeping in here."
The sign in front reading "Drug Free Zone – All Laws Strictly Enforced" hasn't helped much.
"Each morning, we go through the playhouses," Conklin said. "And we remove the needles. The used condoms. Pornography. Whiskey bottles and beer bottles. "
CBS 5 Investigates met up with a man at that house, who said his nickname is "Crazy."
"I've sat in there, I've done heroin, I've done crack, I've done crank," he said. "I've done everything in that house."
In desperation, Principal Linda Conklin finally asked her 4th and 5th grade students to write letters to the Santa Rosa City Council.
And the city's response? City Manager Jeff Kolin told CBS 5 Investigates they are doing their best.
"We provide what I think is outstanding responses to calls from schools, residences (and) individual citizens in that area," Kolin said. "Would we like to do more? Absolutely, of course we would."
But Kolin said beyond having police make arrests, "We are limited in the amount of resources that we are able to provide and we need the partnerships with the neighborhood in order to be successful."
"For all the encouragement that we got, at the root of it is: take this problem on yourselves," Ducker said.
They literally took on the job of shooting surveillance video, building a case to get Junior Oseguera and all of his friends out of the neighborhood.
"We decided that no one was going to pick up the ball, so we had to do it," said Lea Thompson with the neighborhood association.
So, what about "Junior" Oseguera? He told CBS 5 Investigates, he's on a charitable mission.
"No, this is not a drug house," Oseguera said. "What I do, I help the homeless, I help the needy and I help those who are out on the street."
When asked about the claims of drug use by that guy known as "Crazy," Oseguera responded, "I'm not familiar with 'Crazy' or who 'Crazy' is."
Last month, 14 of Oseguera's neighbors took their case to small claims court to have the house declared a public nuisance, a case they won. After looking at the tapes, the judge awarded the neighbors altogether over $100,000.
But it's money they may never see, and their troubles are not over. Oseguera said he's here to stay, he and his friends.
"I will file an appeal and take it to court again," Oseguera said.
"How could this person, how could he possibly have more power than the police, the district attorney, the sheriff's department, whomever?" Principal Conklin wondered. "How can that be possible."
Would your city help you fight an nuisance neighbor? CBS 5 Investigates checked around the Bay Area and found that even though cities have the power to sue problem homeowners, they say they don't have enough resources to investigate or go to court.
But there is one exception. Oakland has shut down more than 80 drug houses in the last two years through a special program called "Law Corps," which uses young law school graduates to sue problem homeowners. City Attorney John Russo said it can be down without spending a lot of money or making neighbors go to small claims court.
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