The best part of the 'visit' by the police was that it was the same Officer Dreamy that came here before. Sigh. About 6'5", and built large. I'm in love. He's also a nice guy, doesn't tell you you are nutty and listens to what you have to say. Scary though. Who isn't panicked when a huge cop appears at your front door without notice? I always feel like I've done something wrong.

Maybe two birds with one stone?

Strange happenings last night and today. Last night TONS of cars one after the other buying drugs. They must have gotten a new supply, or the 'cooker' came in a 'stealth' car. Never saw the usual big hi-rider with the skulls on the back.

Also last night, a car came from the side street after letting off a girl (who went into the house). The car parked right where I have a small tree so I could barely see and couldn't see the driver. The girl came across the street from the house, got into the passenger seat and proceeded to light up something on tinfoil with her cigarette lighter. I've seen that before. She then inhales the fumes. After a few minutes, 2 NORMAL looking people walked over from the side street (I think I've seen them before but never associated them with the 'house'). They came directly to the car, said hi hi hi, got in and the gal then shared her goodies with them, passing the lighter and foil stuff to the back seat and to the driver. After a bit, the young girl got out, said goodbye, and told them to be sure to call Kim for her number (just like a friendly meeting) and the car drove off WITH the older couple.

This was really strange, but at least I've seen the car and the other people who I thought were just neighbors.


THEN all night, car after car until about 3:30am. I guess that's their bedtime? THEN this morning, very dead over there. Nobody until a 'gardener' showed up at 9 am and did NOTHING for 2 full hours. He was older, thin, had lots of rakes and brooms and such in his truck and he spent all that time raking outside the fence. He had little bits of grass to put in a yard waste can, and a few pieces of paper. With the grass, he got a small bit and then took it all the way back to the gate. Then walked back around and did a bit more. He raked then swept, then managed to deliberately kicked grass back onto the sidewalk to give him more to do. He was just wasting time. We finally figured he was a 'look-out'. I think they are on to the police stuff OR the cooker was in there and they were guarding the place. Very obvious if you were watching. Geez. He finally packed up and left just as the 'head guy' living there, came walking back from the store. Interesting. Must have called in the watcher so the place wouldn't be empty.

I also saw a younger guy with a backpack jump over the fence, walk up the side street, and then came back from the other way still with the backpack in about 5 minutes. Just enough time to walk around the block to check for police cars. Yup. They know something is up. Wish something BIG would happen today.

Also have a crazy guy who might have just moved into the infamous Apartments next to me. He's got a horrible limp, uses a cane, and is continually dropping things. Then he leans over, picks up the item and carefully looks back at the 'house'. He seems to be watching it. How many times can you go 4 steps, stop, drop your sweater, pick it up, then 4 more steps, drop your hat, pick it up, then 4 more steps, drop your newspaper, pick it up and then continue to do this for 3 full blocks! Very creepy. I'd think he was an undercover cop except he went right into the Apartments and I don't think they would rent a room just to watch the house. Weird people, strange happenings.

Thanks for the update Sorta.

There has been a VERY strange development at the house! Ever since those 2 arrests and towed cars in the past few weeks AND my notifying several of the PD's finest of my problem, things have been different. The 'usual' crew seems to still be there, but I only see them late at night (coming in) and early in the morning (also coming in). The cars which used to be non-stop are now gone. There are 3 cars (one is a truck) which have been here all week INSIDE the fence. One car has 3-4 guys in it all the time, and sometimes a girl or so. The head guy who kicked out Bad Gal is there but goes out early with his 'wife' walking up the street. Others walk out early too, or walk in. Some get dropped off. Last night I counted 3 in a car, 4 on foot, and 2 drop offs. Too dark to tell who they were, but they were not the original squatters. So adding the 4 to that makes 13 people there last night about 11pm.

BUT right before that first car arrived and drove inside, a police cruiser slowly slowly drove by. He parked half a block away and walked back to the house with another maybe plain clothes guy. The were not hiding, but used flashlights to light up all sides of the house, especially the driveway several times. One walked INTO the yard and around the house for a few minutes. They didn't attempt to contact or knock on doors. Then they walked off and left. 10 minutes later, the first car arrived. I figure someone called them or maybe not.

BUT here's the strange stuff that led up to last night. Friday morning of last week the Water Company came and gave them a shut-off notice. I'm used to seeing this happen and talked to one of the guys awhile back about how they get the notices, how long etc. We figured they would never pay any services and I guess they let the water run run run and never paid the bill. The Water Company lets it go for 3 cycles (2 months each) and that is exactly the time till this notice. 3 overdue bills, 2 bills which are differently colored, and then the actual notice on the meter and on the door. This one got HANDED to a guy outside (the guard that now meets everyone).

So we wait the 3 business days for the actual cut-off of water and sure enough, Wednesday, the water guy was here and I think he shut it off, but nobody over there seemed to be acting any differently all day. Weird. THEN Thursday, the water guy was back and probably turned it back ON. We figured they would just change the 'name' on the billing and say they were new tenants. Probably worked. BUT then that night, NO lights in the back yard. There is always a light. THEN last night NO lights in the back yard AND NO LIGHTS in the house or garage at all!!!! None. All night. So it's possible the police saw no lights and checked the place out. There are ALWAYS lights 24/7.

Even so, several people must have spent the night with no lights and maybe no water, still don't know if it's on or off. I recorded all night and will have to go through 3, eight hour tapes until I know. Again, since they don't pay bills, the electric might have been also shut off. Hope so. Would be great.

So today, I need to walk up the street and see if the air conditioners are still in the windows. They had 2 of them, running all the time. If THEY are gone, someone (the originals) are probably moved out or are moving at night when nobody will see. There has been a huge truck there with tall 8x10 plywood panels standing up that is either bringing in or taking out lots of large items. Furniture is all over the driveway, more than they had at the 2 yard sales. Last Saturday and Sunday was sale number 2 and they had a lot of people. Maybe they were planning a move?

Lots of confusing, but I'll see what's up today. Might just be a small glitch in their payments and all will be back to normal soon. I'll call my other 'detective' up the street to see what she sees.

More info later today when I find out anything. This is getting exciting. I think it has helped to contact the REAL police who are actually interested in solving crimes. AND of course, it hasn't hurt one bit that I'm in that Citizen's Police Academy class. I have met tons of the big guys now. Even got to drive that patrol car...wheeeee.

Crossing fingers!

I'd say they are laying low and biding their time in the hope that the police will finally go away and leave them alone. Very interesting stuff and truly odd behavior - even for these crazies.

Yeah it sound slike somebody tipped the house off.

Yep, seems so that they were tipped off, but then again the police were making it very obvious they were watching by those 2 arrests and car towings. AND they continue to drive by slowly, etc. I also suspect we have more than one 'undercover' car around at all times.

Now the 'fat' gal living there has written a note on Facebook (how stupid can you be?) to the girl we rarely see these days, that she should come over and bring her 'things' and they can sell them (yard sale). Fat gal says, 'I want to sell my antiques'. Ummmm whose antiques would that be? The old guy's of course! Lots of large furniture stuff, desks, bookcases, big chairs. And Fat gal says, 'I almost have enough money now to get my house, and you can live with me THERE'. Indication that Fat gal is moving or at least has a goal of moving. So how can Fat gal manage to 'get' a house, when she can't even pay her cell phone bill? Inquiring minds wanna know.

Watched again last night while watching Dr. Who. Lots of car and foot traffic again late late. Some are still parking, backing up, moving forward, blinking lights, backing up, doing a U-turn, parking, backing up, etc. Very weird behavior, but then I remind myself they are all on DRUGS and it makes perfect sense.

Today, looks like maybe another yard sale, but it won't be early. They were up again till about 4 am on the computer/facebook. AND NO LIGHTS over there at all again last night, and NO air conditioner on. Big sign that the electric is OFF by design or stupidity. I wish I knew which. Could be them not paying, or the 'big guy and wife' moving out and turning it off, or hopefully, the police having it shut off at the request of the Niece. Probably won't find out for a long time, BUT now that I have some police contacts, I know I can find out what I need to know after it's all over (if I live that long).

Sorta,

How many people are living in the house now?

Well living vs. visiting often...Mornings and evenings I can count at least 10-15 permanent squatters. Some come and go, but most live there, sleep there. They might be gone all night and return to sleep all day, or go out to work and return at night. It's a mixed bag of schedules. There are still 3 dogs, the original 4 people (who kicked Bad Gal out). Might be one of them gone, but frequently visiting. She's the meth addict who keeps getting more and more into depression and down the rabbit hole of 'I wish he was here, or it would be better if I had a man' bit. She's the one whose boyfriend killed himself about 3 years ago and she never got over it.

So many people are there just for 15-30 minutes and then not for several days. I can count about 5 cars that appear daily and then are gone. The silly truck seems to go away all day and return at night but sometimes stays. It's hard to figure exactly what they are doing except for the drug dealing.

All in all though, they are soooooo quiet. If not for my knowledge and watching the cars come and go, you would think it was just any other house around here. Large 'families' are the norm. It's not unusual to have huge extended families all in small houses. Grandma down to great grand kids all living together is the local culture.

I'm still trying to find out what's up with the electric bit. Got me going nuts.

That is a lot of "residents" .

Another night without power over there. This is getting interesting. Doesn't stop the 'action'. All seems normal except that I'm not seeing the 'big' guys now. They are the ones who seemed to only be in the garage area (probably overseeing the meth making) and I haven't seen them for a few days.

There is a city trash can prominently displayed now in front of the yard (outside the fence) that clearly has gang graffiti on it. I think it's meant as a warning to others. No reason for a second recycling can to appear for one address and have lovely silver spray paint 4 feet high proclaiming their 'presence'. Nope. Staking out territory for sure.

Probably today, since it's Monday, they will pay the electric bill? Then again, if they got the water turned on so easily after non-payment, it should have been the same with the electric. I'm getting suspicious that the 'big guy' and his wife have moved out. Haven't seen them for 2 days. I will keep looking. If they moved out, they turned off the power since it was in their name and they didn't want the other lowly people to run up the bill? Naw...doesn't make sense. Why worry about ONE bill when there are others not being paid?

Mysteries abound.

You would think with all the drug money they could afford some electricity.

It's abundantly clear that "intelligence" is not in great supply over there. Devious, crafty... but no intelligence at all - probably too much of their own product being ingested.

It's quite a happy crowd. Some real 'low-life' types and some neatly dressed who could be anyone's parents in an upscale neighborhood. All either sneaking in under cover of darkness, or walking in during the day, which constantly looking behind them to be sure they aren't being followed. The worst of it all is they are HERE, right across the street, driving on my block and my neighborhood, all probably high on something. I wonder how many drivers are high on drugs out there? Must be a fair number. Scary.

I sent a letter to the Niece in charge today. I'm hoping for just one little response that will tell me what the heck she is doing. Maybe it's good news, but she isn't responding to anyone. I also sent some recent pictures of people and cars to the nice cop with a follow up of a tow truck which is probably the same company that towed away those 3 cars which were perfectly working nice looking cars. He thinks as I do, that there is something fishy about the towing. Maybe he will check the company out. Would be great if they actually found a drug ring operating through the tow truck company. Yup.

Thanks for the update Sorta.

I talked to Bad Gal today! I finally got her to call me and interrogated her about the 'new' dynamics of the house. She kept me on the phone for over an hour. Too much to tell, but I found out a few more things about who is in 'charge' and who does what. Pretty much, it's everyone trying to get money for drugs so they can be blotto all the time. I asked if she knew why the water and electricity are off. She really didn't know, but assumed that the bill wasn't paid, OR that the 'head guy' is deliberately leaving things off to make it uncomfortable for all these new people moving in and taking over. She isn't sure of anything.

She spent most of the time telling me how great she was and how awful all the rest of them are. Oh well. I figured that out already. I did get a few more names to look up on Facebook. Detective work to do Seems the gal that 'owns' her own caretaker business has a client (very old man in a wheelchair) who she leaves OUTSIDE while she goes through his house looking for goodies. I guess it's somewhere Bad Gal has been (she used to live next door to this caretaker girl for years) so she knows the house and drove by (it's next to her ex's house) and saw the guy outside. She says she went over and offered to bring him back inside, and he refused BECAUSE, he was waiting for the caretaker to come and LIGHT HIS CRACK PIPE! Not kidding this is from the horses mouth. Seems the girl got the old guy hooked on smoking crack and used it to get him to not complain. Geez!

Other than that, the electricity is still off, the WATER company came AGAIN this morning to do a reading on the meter. I think it might really be OFF since they do that 'after check' to be sure the residents haven't bypassed the lock. We shall see what happens.

Now I just wait for the Niece to see if she answers my letter. I sure hope so. I am tired of waiting for something to happen.

Such a nice group of people... upstanding citizens and all that. Sheesh.

What a mess.

No lights again last night. Dunno what is going on except someone had them turned off or didn't pay the bills. More and more I'm suspecting another 'coup' over there and thinking that the 'big guy' turned the electric off on purpose to prevent all the guys from using internet, TV etc. on his dime.

Haven't seen any major 'we gotta bring in tons of water' brigades. They did that in the beginning. Somehow they are surviving without it. I can only imagine what the bathrooms are like at this point with no water for a week. Bad Gal told me that these people don't care if they have utilities or water since all they do is drugs and then they don't notice anything else. Duh?

Loads of action yesterday and the day before. Cars in and out and sometimes 5 or 6 there at the same time. Something is UP. It's the same group that I recognize. Maybe they are digging for buried treasure and taking turns under the house? They still think the old guy buried money and jewelry somewhere on the property. Can't convince them otherwise and the 'rumor' gets bigger and bigger as it transfers to others. The police guy told me about a 'bunker' and tunnels. I laughed so hard and set him straight. What they are calling the 'bunker' is actually a cement (very nice) mechanic's pit in the garage for working under cars before the 'hydraulic lifts' were common. Now the police will know there is NO TREASURE! Geez!

The letter I wrote should reach the Niece by Friday at the latest and then I wait for some contact. Probably will be waiting forever.

I would think the Board of Health would get involved in a property without water housing that many people.

Yeah space, you would think so, but in our little town they don't seem to care. Several of us called them, even said they had 'minor' children there and guess what? They did nothing. Said they couldn't do anything at this time. Same old story.

BUT BUT BUT! Listen to this BREAKING NEWS! I am so giddy I can hardly type.

I got a call 1/2 hour ago from a Detective Vasquez of our local police department. He said that the other officers, to whom I had been giving information, had sent it all to him and they have been investigating THE HOUSE! I asked if he knew the house and he laughed and said he had been there several times AND made arrests there. He asked permission to sit out front of MY house and do some surveillance tomorrow night. I told him he can park in front, in back, come inside and watch the cameras, etc.

He said that they are 'almost' ready to 'make a move'. Oh yes he did!!! He said that he wished it could be this week, but probably would have to wait another week, just to get all the ducks in a row. They wanted to do something sooner, but with the new 'misdemeanor' law (can't arrest on minor things now) that they are constrained on what they can do. He did say they had made some arrests over there. A team of them have been working on this for a while and want to be sure that the DA will accept the case when they finally act. Wheeeee.

So now I wait. He said he would be sending me an email to confirm and then set up for tomorrow night's fun. After he called, I realized the phone number was coming up 'unknown' on my caller ID. So I called the number, no answer, then I got a call back. It was him. Whew! It's a personal cell and not a PD number. I laughed and said I had to call and verify because I never know when someone is going to come by and shoot up my house. He laughed. I just hope this isn't some carefully calculated scheme by the bad guys. Still, he knew things and sounded like a cop. Short, not too much info, didn't push me for any information, etc. I think he's the real deal.

Can't wait till tomorrow. Wow. I'll also verify with someone tonight if there is a Detective Vasquez who does narcotics stuff. They will tell me, I'm sure.

THINGS are moving along now. Wheeee! I love it when a plan comes together. Oh boy!

That is great news Sorta.

Holy cow! How exciting!

So I get home from my Citizen's Police Academy class at 9:30pm to find SIX police cars in front of my house. Yikes! Strangely enough this had NOTHING to do with the HOUSE. It turned out to be a domestic violence call. The cops all had their 'rifles' out and were searching the Apartments 2 doors down (where they also sell drugs). The gal who is selling drugs and her boyfriend are ALWAYS fighting. I guess either he or she called the cops and after probably an hour, with blinking lights, a police dog, my driveway blocked and traffic narrowed to one lane, they announced, "Subject not found". Duh. With 6 cars here (as we learned tonight) that was 1/3 of our entire patrols for this evening. Now they can all go back to their own areas. They showed us what areas have the most patrol cars each night and which have the least, depending on the CRIME in the area. We have 2 cars in my sector so that's not bad. They do 10 hour shifts on M-Th and 12 hour shifts on F-Sun. Wowee! Long hours but then of course they get days off. I guess it's working.

Oh and I asked tonight if there actually was a Detective Vasquez (the guy who called me today) and sure enough, there IS. Whew! So tomorrow night I might get to watch another police 'action'. Never a dull moment. AND the HOUSE? Not a car in sight. Ha. Of course they all split when the police showed up here. I bet they all come back when they 'think it's safe'. Probably tipped off everyone they know not to come around. This could really hurt business over there...bahahhahaa!