California
I recently rented an extra room in my apartment to a guy who said his name was Roberto Stanley (it was a fake name). After he had lived here for two months, he had a girlfriend who was a crack cocaine addict move into his room. Because of this and other issues I asked him to move and gave him 30 days notice. I had signed a simple written agreement with him but he then claimed that all we had was a "verbal agreement" and under California law he could stay as long as he wanted. This caused several confrontations which he just ignored then he decided to try to get me evicted and made repeated calls to my landlord encouraging then to evict me so he could take over the apartment. This caused more confrontation but he finally said he would be moving on a Friday afternoon.
I wanted to be here when he moved so waited all day and when he finally came home he announced in a loud voice "Hi honey, I'm home" - then he came into my bedroom and shoved me and said "hey, what's going on here". I pushed back on his hands only then he screamed, "Jesus Christ- he's attacking me- call 911, call 911" and ran out of the apartment with his cell phone in hand. I knew immediately it was staged and said so in a loud voice.
The Police came and asked if I had any sexual relationship with Roberto and I said "absolutely not" (I am a heterosexual). The Police then said "well he's saying you do and refused to listen to my adament denials that I had never had sex with a male in my life- and that this had been a completely staged set-up. My roommate had smeared dirt and blood on his face (probably he pricked his finger to do this) but the Police also refused to believe that I had never touched his face when he attacked me.
After an "investigation" of less than three minutes, I was arrested and charged with "Felony Sposal Abuse" and bail was set at $25,000. Since he had timed this on Friday I would have been in jail until the following Thursday so my Sister paid the $2,500 bail amount (her finances are very tight, as are mine- so this was very damaging).
The Police have tried to close the case saying "there wasn't enough evidence to convice me" but they don't seem to mind at all that they participated in this criminal act. I have subsequently requested an internal Police investigation and offered to take a polygraph test and was interviewed while being recorded. While they at first offered a "very thorough" investigation, they are now saying they just want to determine if the "based on the information he had at the time" did anything inappropriate. My roommate has refused to cooperate with the investigation.
When I was in jail, my roommate stole the rental agreement that was on my desk that proved my agreement was with me and not the owners (he has since moved out). The Police refused to take a report on this but said I could "sue him in small claims court". Even this small amount of justice seems impossible as all the internal investigation files are under lock and key. My roommate had recorded the entire event (which accounts for the strange things he was saying at the time) and I believe has falseified these recordings (now in Police custody). I am having a very difficult time keeping the criminal investigation open and internal investigations will not share any information with the criminal investigation.
This guy is a criminal- he has done something similar to other roommates but the Police don't care. Does anyone have any advice on how to proceed? I really can't afford an attorney right now but small claims seems to small for what he did- plus I apparently have to go back to court again to get this off my record. Any advice, thoughts or help would be greatly appreciated.
Rob G.
I recently rented an extra room in my apartment to a guy who said his name was Roberto Stanley (it was a fake name). After he had lived here for two months, he had a girlfriend who was a crack cocaine addict move into his room. Because of this and other issues I asked him to move and gave him 30 days notice. I had signed a simple written agreement with him but he then claimed that all we had was a "verbal agreement" and under California law he could stay as long as he wanted. This caused several confrontations which he just ignored then he decided to try to get me evicted and made repeated calls to my landlord encouraging then to evict me so he could take over the apartment. This caused more confrontation but he finally said he would be moving on a Friday afternoon.
I wanted to be here when he moved so waited all day and when he finally came home he announced in a loud voice "Hi honey, I'm home" - then he came into my bedroom and shoved me and said "hey, what's going on here". I pushed back on his hands only then he screamed, "Jesus Christ- he's attacking me- call 911, call 911" and ran out of the apartment with his cell phone in hand. I knew immediately it was staged and said so in a loud voice.
The Police came and asked if I had any sexual relationship with Roberto and I said "absolutely not" (I am a heterosexual). The Police then said "well he's saying you do and refused to listen to my adament denials that I had never had sex with a male in my life- and that this had been a completely staged set-up. My roommate had smeared dirt and blood on his face (probably he pricked his finger to do this) but the Police also refused to believe that I had never touched his face when he attacked me.
After an "investigation" of less than three minutes, I was arrested and charged with "Felony Sposal Abuse" and bail was set at $25,000. Since he had timed this on Friday I would have been in jail until the following Thursday so my Sister paid the $2,500 bail amount (her finances are very tight, as are mine- so this was very damaging).
The Police have tried to close the case saying "there wasn't enough evidence to convice me" but they don't seem to mind at all that they participated in this criminal act. I have subsequently requested an internal Police investigation and offered to take a polygraph test and was interviewed while being recorded. While they at first offered a "very thorough" investigation, they are now saying they just want to determine if the "based on the information he had at the time" did anything inappropriate. My roommate has refused to cooperate with the investigation.
When I was in jail, my roommate stole the rental agreement that was on my desk that proved my agreement was with me and not the owners (he has since moved out). The Police refused to take a report on this but said I could "sue him in small claims court". Even this small amount of justice seems impossible as all the internal investigation files are under lock and key. My roommate had recorded the entire event (which accounts for the strange things he was saying at the time) and I believe has falseified these recordings (now in Police custody). I am having a very difficult time keeping the criminal investigation open and internal investigations will not share any information with the criminal investigation.
This guy is a criminal- he has done something similar to other roommates but the Police don't care. Does anyone have any advice on how to proceed? I really can't afford an attorney right now but small claims seems to small for what he did- plus I apparently have to go back to court again to get this off my record. Any advice, thoughts or help would be greatly appreciated.
Rob G.