One family’s ideal home turned into a nightmare when their neighbor, who is a hoarder, transformed his property into a makeshift garbage dump, obstructing their driveway.
Elena Malone and her husband bought their three-bedroom Sun Valley, California family home in 2021 for $1.2million.
Upon moving in, they discovered that their neighbor, a 50-year-old named David Ferrera, had allowed his plot to accumulate not only human waste but also condoms, sex toys, over 100 abandoned vehicles, broken electronics, scrap metal, and chemical waste.
The family and other residents reported to The LA Times that apart from being unsightly, the trash poses significant health and safety hazards. Despite this, authorities have yet to intervene.
Malone said: ‘It was so beautiful. I just really feel like one person shouldn’t be able to sacrifice the safety of the community.’
When Malone, her husband and their two young children moved into the house on Wildwood Fire Road it was beautiful, set in half an acre of landscaped gardens with fireplaces, exposed beams and an open kitchen.
But three years later the family are desperate to leave.
Their next door neighbor Ferrera – who relatives told the LA Times is a mentally ill hoarder – has turned his plot into an unlicensed dump.
He reportedly filled the surrounding area with mounds of trash and metal, hazardous waste and more than 100 rusting broken vehicles.
At one time, when the trash made his home inaccessible, he moved into his car outside of the Malones’ home.
Their road and front yard then started to fill up with hypodermic needles, bags of weed, human excrement and condoms.
Malone had to stop her children – aged nine and 11 – from playing in the front garden.
She told The LA Times: ‘It’s just not right.’
Once she found Ferrera and his girlfriend passed out in the car, she said: ‘I couldn’t wake them up. I was worried they were going to die from an overdose.’
The family and other neighbors turned to local authorities for help but told The LA Times they have done nothing.
Ferrera’s plot is owned by his 80-year-old mother, Mary, who agreed it is a serious problem and told The Times that she has tried to help him clear up but there is nothing more she can do.
She told The Times: ‘He began scavenging metal to survive, which may have triggered or worsened his hoarding.’
Mary was charged with property code violations for failing to clean up the property in 2021, and sentenced to 180 days in jail.
She reportedly sobbed as she told the judge that she had removed 21 trucks of garbage from the site only to see her son re-fill the land with more trash.
She was released after spending one night in jail.
Now the neighbors are increasingly worried about a fire breaking out on the property and surrounding their own homes.
Scout Raskin, who lives on the road told The Times: ‘There are no side streets for us to escape to. If the fire surrounds us, we all die.’