SANTA CRUZ — All residents of a suspected drug house on Chrystal Terrace including the owner must move out of the home possibly for as long as a year because of continuing problems at the property, a judge ruled Tuesday.
In a civil hearing attended by more than a dozen residents of the cul-de-sac near Misson Street, Judge Paul Marigonda ordered homeowner Penny Huntsinger to remove all tenants from 126 Chrystal Terrace by May 23. Santa Cruz City Attorney John Barisone argued the case for the neighbors, many of whom have complained for months that Huntsinger, in allowing drug-using transients to stay at the house, has created a public nuisance.
A case management conference is set for May 24 to set a trial date for summer.
Three neighbors including a retired San Jose police officer testified of problems that included public fights among the home’s tenants, drug use and transient men who wandered into other backyards looking for the home.
“It’s been a long, frustrating journey for the neighbors,” Barisone said outside court. “You will get justice if you prepare and endure, and that’s what happened here.”
Huntsinger lived in the home for many years, but now splits her time between an apartment and the house. In the summer of 2010, she began to allow the homeless to stay at the house in exchange for work, she testified.
“Selected individuals have been allowed to stay at the house because they need to find jobs and need to get back on their feet,” Huntsinger said.
Responding to complaints from neighbors, a judge handed down a preliminary injunction against Huntsinger earlier this year that essentially said no one could do drugs at the property or the home could be vacated. Judge Timothy Volkmann called the property a “drug house” in his ruling.
Robert Brunette, who was convicted in 2010 of mistreating more than 50 dogs at his Boulder Creek home, testified in Tuesday’s hearing that he stayed at the house after he was released from jail in December.
“My house was burned down the night before I got out of jail, so I go there to shower, watch TV,” Brunette said.
He testified that when Huntsinger saw tenants drink in excess, she forbade them from staying at the house. Others who testified on Huntsinger’s behalf said the neighbors were harassing the tenants by writing down license plate numbers and taking pictures of their visitors and cars.
John Como, a retired police officer, testified that he saw men smoke meth in Huntsinger’s backyard on two separate occasions. Another neighbor, Gail Wylde, testified that she found a man associated with the house passed out near a fence who was unable to care for himself, and she tried to help him.
Wylde also said that when she was writing down a license plate number on her checkbook in April, a man in a white car snatched it out of her hand. Later in the day when she spoke to a man in a van, the driver screeched in reverse and sped forward — stopping about a foot from her.
“I really thought he was going to kill me,” Wylde testified.
The driver of the car said he sped the car backward, not forward.
On Feb. 18, seven people were arrested at the home during a probation search, police said. Officers found syringes, methadone and prescription benzedrine marked for another patient, authorities said.
Huntsinger, in her own defense, said she did not allow drugs at the home and never saw anyone do drugs. She said she sometimes seized alcohol and poured it down the drain.
“How is my client supposed to know when someone is under the influence, and what does that mean?” asked Huntsinger’s attorney, John Hannon.
At least one man who rents a room in the house, James Scott, is not on probation.
He said he is unemployed and has been living there since September. When Marigonda ordered the home to be vacated, Scott, sitting in the gallery, took off his glasses and wiped away tears.
Marigonda said in his ruling that the retired police officer’s testimony about watching meth use was powerful evidence. Another neighbor’s testimony that she had to alter her childrens’ route home from school because of transients near the house also was persuasive.
The tenants of the house were notified of the hearing March 23, so a 60-day period to vacate the property would end May 23.
Huntsinger and Hannon declined to comment outside court after the ruling.
Barisone said outside court that a bench trial this summer could have several outcomes. He said the judge could rule that the property be vacated for longer, the property could be appointed to a receiver or it could be rented for fair market value with a property manager handling tenants.
Como, the retired San Jose police officer who lives in the neighborhood with his family, said he agreed with the ruling.
“Well, we’re happy,” Como said. “We’re just looking forward to a more peaceful environment.”
