SACRAMENTO (CN) – Nine condo residents claim Taser-toting private security guards burst into their homes at 3 a.m. and assaulted them, forcing them into the street in their underwear, in a foreclosure the residents had never been informed of.
One plaintiff claims that when he finally was allowed back into his home, naked pictures of him and his girlfriend were missing.
Lead plaintiff Steven Saxon sued Paladin Protection Services dba Paladin Private Security and the Jasmine Homeowners Association in Superior Court.
Saxon, who was the building’s lessee, claims the guards accused the plaintiffs of being “squatters,” though none of them were aware of the foreclosure action against the building and none had received service of the lawsuit.
After a default judgment was issued, “in the wee hours of April 30, 2011, defendants came onto plaintiffs’ residence, uninvited, at approximately between 3 a.m. and 3:30 a.m., performing a military style raid of plaintiffs’ residence,” according to the complaint.
Paladin Private Security conducted the raid, Saxon says. When tenant-plaintiff Jedediah Main opened his door, “he was met with a security officer for Paladin who had a Taser gun holstered on his hip. Mr. Main thought it was a gun. The security officer told Mr. Main that he was being charged with burglary and that other officers were on the way,” the complaint states.
Tenant-plaintiff Nick Bartilotta “was told that he was trespassing and that he was going to be charged with burglary. They ordered him to hurry up and get out of the condo, allowing him no time to get dressed.”
Tenant-plaintiff Justin Bond says, “A security guard barged in telling him to leave, and pointed what he thought were guns at him. The Security officer told Mr. Bond that he was a house burglar, and that they were going to take them to jail.
“Plaintiff Darrin Martin was awoken by the banging at the door. He stumbled to his feet to see what was going on and the guard was already in the house yelling at the top of his lungs for everyone to get outside. He asked for Mr. Martin’s identification card and ran a check on everyone in the condo.”
Martin says guards accused him of “breaking and entering” into his own condo.
Once outside, “Mr. Martin had to urinate, at which time the guard outside allowed him to go inside. When Mr. Martin got to the top of the stairs, he saw two guards going through cabinets and their personal property.”
The security guards threatened several tenants with Tasers, saying, “Don’t move or we’ll fry you,” and, eventually, “forced them to stay outside in the cold for around thirty minutes in their underwear; they were not permitted to go back into their residence even to get dressed,” the complaint states.
Saxon says he explained to a security officer that he had been paying all of the utilities and the security officer said that, “‘between you, me and the lamppost, the homeowners’ association is over-zealous.”
“The security officers apologized and said it was all a misunderstanding, and then left,” the complaint states.
“They occupied and controlled the premises approximately two hours, holding plaintiffs against their will and preventing them by the use of force and/or the threat to use force for freely moving and entering their residence. …
“During this approximate two-hour ordeal, the armed men threatened arrest and incarceration, menaced the plaintiffs with weapons, engaged in intimidation, positioning themselves immediately in front of and/or behind the plaintiffs, glaring at them menacingly and invading the plaintiffs’ space.”
When the plaintiffs returned to their homes, they saw that their personal belongings had been sifted through, and one man discovered that “naked photos of his girlfriend and himself … had been taken.”
The plaintiffs seek damages for trespass, extortion, assault and battery, false imprisonment, invasion of privacy, conversion and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
They are represented by Jeffrey Jacobs.
Copy of the complaint below…
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4closureFraud.org
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@ TheHutMaster. Totally agree with you on what would of happened to these security guards if they pulled that kind of bullshit in Tampa. Least a third of em would of died. Especially when the first person yells out all they got are tazers with them. And with Florida’s “Stand Your Ground Law” they’d pretty much get away with it, cause as far as they knew these guys were doing a home invasion, they got no paperwork.
LOL!!!
Yes this could have turned nasty.
I was not aware that security guards could evict in any state, other than at motels/hotels.
I hope they get a verdict that is huge, and just.
I hope the civil suit will be HUGE!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I hope the civil aware is HUMONGOUS!!!!!!! We’ll see if the judge does the right thing.
Since the HOA won a case on foreclosing on properties even if there is a loan, and for being able to collect HOA fees from tenants…a;; hell seems to be breaking loose with them all over the place…
Winning a foreclosure is one thing, the follow-up that is REQUIRED to EVICT is an UNLAWFUL DETAINER here in CA. They do NOT mention obtaining such and, if they DID get a ‘U-D’, it would have been enforced by the SHERIFF’S DEPARTMENT.
Even if a defective U-D was obtained (i.e., one that did not name the actual tenants or provide notice to the actual tenants), it would NEVER have been up to the HOA and private security force to enforce it!
This is SO clearly outside the laws it is ridiculous. Even if the occupants were squatters instead of paying tenants, it would have been the sheriff’s task to get them out, not the private force.
Depending on the area of CA, you could also expect a gun shot if you broke in. We are having enough home invasion robberies that are even occur during broad daylight. The laws here allow you to defend yourself with deadly force inside you residence. They should know better than to pull this, even in CA.
If this gets media attention, it will only be cause for people to buy arms NOW.
In Florida if you invade someones home in the middle of the night you would likely get shot by a law biding citizen. It is appalling how the main stream media is failing to investigate and report on the out of control wickedness occurring thorough out the USA. There is a rampant epidemic of unlawful invasion and theft of private property. The media is practically silent ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN… it seems is sticking there heads in the ground the almighty fair and balanced Fox News is also derelict on this issue .
C’mon Bill O’Reilly, Sean Hannity, and you to Gretta all of you need to do better a better job reporting the Foreclosure crime wave.
It is covered in just 4 words in the english language. “Its an election year”. we all have to remeber some good ole statistics. only 4-5 % defend their home from foreclosure the rest of us are deadbeat homeowners who want a “fee house” the mainstream media can not run this stuff because the general public will think obama is helping deadbeat homeowners and it can cost him the election. we are winning people one house at a time. we need to pass info to eveyrone we know. if you ask for a modification, forbearance and you are told to pay a smaller amount or not to pay unil you are in default remember they dual track foreclosures. keep checking the county records. i new the day my lawsuit was filed, i new that wek i would be served, my husnabd signed the service, with in 2 days i had my lawyer. this ifo needs to get out to everyone we know so this shenanigans stops. hope this helps some people.
Oh boy.
I invite these PUNK dirtbags to come to Tampa and have a chat with me before I whip their ass. I hope these PUNKS do serious jail time for assult.
This is insane!
“Fight The Good Fight’
Every Minute, Every Day.
@ HutMaster,
Did you notice it is a CIVIL SUIT? Most likely, the police refused to arrest anyone. But it would have been interesting to see what would have happened if the police had arrived while the residents were being kept out of the property. At least then a police report might have listed the names of the private security force members.
The practice in CA for an eviction is that the SHERIFF’s DEPARTMENT meets with a representative for the property to do the door-knocking/demand that the tenant leave the property immediately and the property rep is to change out the locks right then.
It is NEVER a private group that does an eviction. Even with a foreclosure, a separate Unlawful Detainer has to be served on the OCCUPANTS. This never happened in this case. The HOA seems to be operating way outside the law. If the allegations are true, the occupants will get a tidy sum awarded by the courts against the HOA. Courts here are VERY PRO-TENANT.
But the private security force? All they may endure is MAYBE loosing their job. They are not being charged with any crime.
But they seem to fit the description of a home invasion. Keep it up and you will see guns drawn.