Videos Are Weapons in Surf City Feud

It started a year ago with complaints at the Harbour Vista condominium complex that a man was taking up too many parking spaces.

Then one resident’s car was towed. Another had his car’s tires slashed and motor oil dumped at his doorstep.

Now, the quiet Huntington Beach development crackles with the tension of a battlefield--and it’s all caught on tape. Police are called to the complex almost daily--nearly 150 visits since January--to break up shouting matches.

Homeowners have sought temporary restraining orders against each other. A few have simply moved out. The situation has become so disruptive that real estate agents must disclose the neighborhood battles to potential buyers.

What set this feud apart is the weapon of choice: video cameras. The man at the center of the dispute has 15 cameras mounted inside his windows to record everything that moves outside his home. He carries a minicam and still camera around the complex whenever he leaves his home, frightening neighbors--and their children--who resent being videotaped.

Other neighbors have retaliated with their own video recordings, creating lens-to-lens showdowns in the condo common spaces peppered with cursing and shouting. There is now a library of videotapes--evidence that both sides use to show they are in the right.

“We can’t focus on being normal individuals living in a community,” said William McCord, the beleaguered president of the homeowners association. “Never in my wildest dreams would I think that I would have to spend 10 to 15 hours a week on this. I don’t sleep anymore. It’s killing my wife.”

It’s not illegal to videotape people in public, so authorities said they are powerless to resolve the dispute.

“Basically you have a group of people not getting along, and they’re doing everything they can to irritate each other,” said Huntington Beach Police Lt. J.B. Hume. “The videos we have seen have been taken to the D.A.’s office, and it was determined that no crime has occurred.”

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John Rogers had four cars. But he’s entitled to use only two spaces in his condo complex’s parking lot. It’s been a touchy subject with neighbors ever since the 37-year-old man and his mother moved in three years ago.

A year ago, the condominium association board confronted Rogers about the problem. Rogers complained he was being singled out and accused neighbors of frequently parking illegally.

The board responded by ordering another neighbor’s car towed away. A few days later, Rogers walked outside and noticed that someone had dumped motor oil on his doorstep and slashed his tires.

The incidents left Rogers feeling afraid and alone. And they were brutal reminders of the violence that brought him and his mother to Harbour Vista. Rogers moved into the complex after a man who had been staying with the two stabbed Mary Rogers and slashed his throat, leaving him for dead.

Permanently disabled and unable to work, Rogers hoped to start a new life--and vowed not to become a victim again. So, once trouble started with the neighbors, he looked for a way to document what was happening.

Soon, neighbors noticed Rogers walking around the complex aiming a video camera at them or snapping photographs. Eventually he installed a network of small video cameras inside his windows.

“The videotape became a tool of trying to say, ‘Stop it, because I’m documenting this,’ ” Rogers said. “I’d be dead without it.”

His next-door neighbor, Michael Richardson, a 38-year-old warehouse worker, believed Rogers was targeting his family, videotaping him and his young daughters as they left their house.

Other residents began complaining that Rogers taped their children walking to school, getting off the school bus and playing around the complex.

Some suggested that Rogers was using the videotapes for illicit purposes. Richardson said he posted a sign in the complex accusing Rogers of being a pedophile.

Police said they looked into that accusation but found no evidence of wrongdoing.

As the months wore on, the exchanges became increasingly bitter and involved more than a dozen families. Richardson and other neighbors began recording Rogers recording them.

Videotapes shot by Rogers show residents shooing him away, yelling “Get out of here, John.” Videotapes shot by other residents show Rogers recording their activities in common areas, yelling “Get away from me” as they approach.

Other videotapes show a ritual between Rogers and Richardson in which they take turns shouting at each other through the security gates of their condos. They also shine powerful flashlights at each other’s windows throughout the night. Rogers and Richardson received temporary restraining orders requiring them to stay 100 yards from each other. But the order is difficult to enforce because they live only a few feet apart.

Neighbors took sides, with many faulting Rogers. Mark Rasmussen became so angry at the constant videotaping of his 2-year-old daughter that he started recording Rogers during his visits to the pool.

“I wanted to show some evidence that he hangs out at the pool with no intention to go swimming,” the homeowner said. But after a while, Rasmussen put away his recorder. “He outlasted me,” he said. “He’s a pro.”

Neighbor Ana McGann and her 13-year-old son sided with Rogers, saying their neighbor has been unfairly ostracized.

She feels sympathy for Rogers’ past and says she can understand his need to use his cameras as a shield.

“I think these people need to sit back and realize that they are dealing with a human being, not a piece of trash,” said McGann, 36, adding that her friendship with Rogers has prompted others at Harbour Vista to give her the cold shoulder.

As homeowners association president, McCord felt compelled to defuse the situation.

He tried talking to Rogers, then issued several citations, but to no avail.

“We got 30 neighbors together in a clubhouse with John,” McCord said, “but it’s beyond us. We don’t know what to do any longer.”

The association offered to pay Rogers’ moving expenses if he sold his condo, but the deal fell through.

During one confrontation, Rogers placed McCord under citizen’s arrest, though police took no action against him.

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Police have logged more than 200 phone calls from Harbour Vista residents since January and sent officers to the complex 144 times.

The department estimates it has logged 432 hours of staff time dealing with the dispute. The calls have ranged from complaints about water-gun attacks to threats to harm a neighbor’s dog.

“Without a doubt this problem is taking up far more resources than any other problem area” in the city, Hume said. “We have tried mediation, investigation, consultations. We’ve done everything we can to bring peace to the neighborhood.”

On March 14, police made their only arrest at Harbour Vista. Richardson was taken into custody for threatening Rogers. The charges were reduced to a misdemeanor, and Richardson paid a fine.

Police have reviewed stacks of videotapes from all sides but found no evidence of crimes. They say the verbal exchanges don’t warrant police action.

“What gets me is they don’t see themselves as being part of it. It takes two to tango,” Hume said. “If you want to call them victims, both of them have been victimized by each other.”

Some neighbors could not take it anymore. Tiffany Decker and her husband, Jay, decided to sell their two-bedroom unit.

“It was just real frustrating to have to come home and run into [Rogers],” Tiffany Decker said. “You park your car and he automatically comes out with his video camera. Every night and every day the cops were there. I can’t live like that.”

One other homeowner also sold, and another has placed his home on the market.

State law requires that potential buyers be told of potential nuisances, and as one Huntington Beach real estate agent put it, “When you start seeing police cars, then you know you need to start disclosing it.”

Earlier this month, Rogers filed a multimillion-dollar lawsuit against 13 residents at the complex, accusing them of harassment. He hopes to collect enough to move out of Harbour Vista.

Meanwhile, the Richardson family last week won civil judgments against Rogers totaling $13,000.

The family argued in court that Rogers had harassed them with the video cameras. Rogers says he will appeal.

“We are still making attempts to mediate and to improve things,” Hume said, adding he still worries the situation will escalate. “It could go from name-calling to actual violence.”