Frequent visits to the house by probation officers drew neighbors attention. Although they were routine checks, rumors and accusations spread along the road.
Thirty years Ive lived in peace
not having to fear if someone was going to attack or hurt me, Annette Spiller, a next-door neighbor, told Hesperia City Council members at a meeting weeks after the home opened. Eighteen days ago, a dark cloud settled over my community, and now I feel like I cant even go out of my own home.
Spiller asserted, inaccurately, that the men living next to her were violent felons. Her comments were followed by those of the neighborhood watch captain, who suggested the men were pedophiles targeting children on the street. Several others added to the chorus of complaints.
The council rallied behind the angry residents, and city code enforcers suddenly began issuing citations at the house. Calling the neighbors heroes at a meeting, Blewett warned that crime had surged throughout Hesperia. It was, he said, a result of the state of California releasing all these deadbeats into our community.
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The councils doomsday concerns about a crime wave and flood of criminals into the city are not supported by the county sheriffs crime statistics. While thefts rose by 15% between 2014 and 2015, burglaries in Hesperia dropped by 30%. Overall serious crime fell by 3%.
Green said any claim that her program endangers residents is unfounded. Since starting work with the county Probation Department in 2013, she has housed 361 people on probation. Of those, about a third have been kicked out of the program and rehoused elsewhere by probation officials, largely for failing to adhere to the programs strict rules. Green says 86% of the others have successfully left the program with jobs and their own place to live, while less than 5% have committed new crimes and been re-incarcerated.
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The City Council also introduced its tough rental ordinance. The measure requires landlords to start eviction proceedings within 10 days of being notified by police that a tenant is suspected of criminal activity in or around the rental property. The law does not require the tenant to be arrested before the mandatory eviction proceedings are triggered.
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In response to questions from The Times, the Sheriffs Department acknowledged that the first letter was not spurred by any actual criminal activity, but because probation officers and deputies were making frequent visits to the house to check on the former inmates. The second letter, the department said, was sent after a man living in the house was arrested for possession of drug paraphernalia.
Green disputes that the man committed any crimes at the house, but the rental law gives tenants no way to challenge a deputys findings.
The owner of the house served Green with eviction papers in May. Weeks later, the owners of the other two houses Green rented did the same, saying in court records that they no longer could afford to remain in the citys crosshairs. Along with using the rental ordinance, city code enforcers had leveled tens of thousands of dollars in fines on the homeowners for violating the citys strict group-home law, among other things.
