View Full Version : Caught CREEPY Neighbor Taking Pictures...
CurrentResident
10-05-2003, 03:27 AM
I'm looking for legal advice on what to do about the following situation:
The two old people (male & female) living next to me were having a party today, when my dogs started barking wildly and didn't stop when I called them. I looked outside to see what was causing them to go crazy and I caught my creepy neighbor (male caucasian, late 50's/60's with white hair & moustache/beard) leaning over the fence between our property with his camera and taking pictures of my house/property!!!
I have a window on the side of the house he was taking photos of, so he may have been taking photos of the inside.
I confronted him right then and there and demanded to know what he was doing. Creepy neighbor replied he was just taking pictures of my dogs. I demanded to know WHY and he stammered and bleated out some rubbish about "Ben (referring to himself in the 3rd person!?!) was just having a party and..." upon which he began to walk away.
I asked if he wanted me to call the Police on him and he replied, "Oh no, no..." So I called the cops.
Well, the cops talked to creepy Ben and he told them, "it was an accident" (WTF?!?!), at which point he looked over the fence to me and yelled, "It was an accident and you shouldn't think anything of it."
When I replied how it could be an accident, creepy Ben replied, "Oh, you want to play that way... fine!" The cops then told him to go in his house.
The cops said he didn't do anything criminal so they can't do anything and they left. They didn't even find out what the heck he was taking pictures of! Cops are worthless!
Is there anything that I can do to prevent any further harassment of this sort from this creep?
Postscript: I warned the neighbors who lived near creepy Ben about the incident since they all have small children or teenagers.
Any advice that can be provided would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance!
himura-dono
10-05-2003, 03:50 AM
wait, wait, lemme get this straight...
you came here for legal advice... an asian-american forum... i'm guessing you ASSUMED we have lawyers here (which we do) or did you do this because your wierd neighbor is white and possibly a peeping tom (eventhough by your account, you said nothing of him attempting to take pictures of you from the outside).
sorry for questioning, just it's your first post, and the way you describe everything, and the forum it's in just seemed off.
assuming it's all true, and i'm not saying it isn't, there could be several possible reasons for him to do so.
1. he hates your dogs and really was taking pictures of them barking at night (as would be shown in the photos) while he was having a party. this COULD have happened because there are plenty of times the flash doesn't only seem to focus on the direct object of the photograph.
2. Do you have anything on the outside of your house that you recently put there? he may be collecting evidence for a neighborhood committee to get said thing down or if it violates some homeowners agreement.
3. he's drunk. live and let live.
4. he's the creepy asiaphile you seem to have casted him as. yet, why would he take pictures of your house and not try to get pictures of you? seems off.
for the record, warning the other neighbors without any proof is a little overboard. and unless you can get any proof that would validate the claims you made to the neighbors, you can be sure it isn't enough for a restraining order.
my legal advice, and i'm no lawyer, chill, ignore him for now, if he does it again, document it and have the police document it. if any future occurences happen, you may be able to get a restraining order.
my non-legal advice is to talk with him in a few days in a non-confrontational way. you may have just flustered the geezer before he could say what it really was about. in the event that it was your dogs or something violating a homeowners agreement, i could see him not wanting to say "yeah, i'm collecting evidence to have something done about your X."
CurrentResident
10-05-2003, 04:12 AM
Yes, I'm asking about legal advice because I know there are lawyers amongst the forum members. Your assertion about me assuming Asians would be lawyers is just silly... I'll chalk it up to it being late at night and you were trying to be funny.
Yes - this is my first post because I haven't had any need to post anything.
1. Yes, I think he hates my dogs. This was in the daytime though.
2. No. And we thankfully don't have an Homeowners Association/Committee because this is about a 40-year old development. Although there's a group of geezers who call themselves the Homeowners Association which panhandles for dues that nobody pays - they're not legit tho'.
3. He appeared sober.
4. To clarify what "taking pictures of my house" means: his camera was pointed at my house which was no more than 5 feet away from the fence. There is a window on the side he was pointing the camera at, so I don't think he was taking a panoramic view of my domicile.
I think notifying the neighbors was definitely the thing to do, because they all have children and who knows if this guy is a perv or something. Funny thing is that all the other neighbors happen to be Asian also.
This may be enough for a restraining order, but I wonder if he has violated any Privacy, Voyeurism or Stalking laws?
Thanks for your comments.
golden_buns
10-05-2003, 04:19 AM
This puzzles me; what is the relevance of mentioning your neighbors ethnicity in the hole context?
CurrentResident
10-05-2003, 04:27 AM
I was describing him to help paint a picture of this wierdo.
I also mentioned his age range, hair color and name.
Why did _you_ focus only on his ethnicity???
hmm...tough situation. you can always go for the "scare the shit outta him" tacit. as in ring him up one of these days and tell him that the police are going to be watching him, and if he ever tries something like that again, they will bring him in for questioning.
and also does he have a wife? if so, then maybe you can politely ask his wife why he did this. but if you do decide to do that, make sure the husband isn't home. Cause from previous experiences, I find that women tend to be more forgiving and not as aggressive if they indeed didn't do anything wrong. Men would be embarassed and have an ego trip over such things.
just my two cents as a pre-med in college.
John0101
10-05-2003, 11:04 AM
Teach your dogs to hate creepy Ben, so when he comes around he'll have to mess with your dogs.
or
Buy a gun
kasia
10-05-2003, 11:33 AM
we don't give legal advice here b/c 1) none of us are licensed attorneys yet and 2) we can get in trouble =)
my practical advice to you would be to call the chief of police (we tell our clients to do this when cops ignore them b/c there are times when the cops are just too lazy to write a police report) and, if that fails, consult an actual attorney.
when you do talk to the chief, tell him exactly what happened and write down everything he says. if he fails to take action and something bad happens, then you could use that as evidence for negligence on his part.
Green_Circle
10-05-2003, 11:40 AM
The dogs sure come in handy since they alerted you to these goings on. Maybe the guy's an old pervert who's trying to get pix of a young Asian girl. Do you live alone or with roomies? Do you have a BF? Most single young females really watch their backs these days.
himura-dono
10-05-2003, 02:20 PM
Yes, I'm asking about legal advice because I know there are lawyers amongst the forum members. Your assertion about me assuming Asians would be lawyers is just silly... I'll chalk it up to it being late at night and you were trying to be funny.
no, it wasn't an attempt at being funny. i said that considering this was your first post here, meaning you're a stranger and that you wouldn't necessarily know we DO have (unlicensed) lawyers here, that you were assuming we did. i never said you were assuming asians are lawyers, i'll chalk that up to you being wierded out by a neighbor :retard: . Since you also focused on the description of the man, which seemed to focus on him being white slapping him with an unspoken asiaphile label, it seemed odd since the description is unneeded. hence i felt your post was a little concocted, not necessarily fake, just seemed put together based on whatever personal bias' you might have.
I think notifying the neighbors was definitely the thing to do, because they all have children and who knows if this guy is a perv or something.
without any hard evidence, i really do think it was totally unnecessary, especially if it turned out to be nothing and you made a BFD out of it. i call it, trying to think ahead, it's REALLY useful.
Funny thing is that all the other neighbors happen to be Asian also.
well shit, it's a conspiracy, he MUST be some psycho crazy asiaphile if the neighbors are asian. OMG, you solved the case! :wacko:
This may be enough for a restraining order, but I wonder if he has violated any Privacy, Voyeurism or Stalking laws?
i doubt it, but maybe you should have found out before proclaiming him a perv to the neighbors? just a thought...
Thanks for your comments.
no problem, the only reason i'm picking at what you have to say is that in all honesty it really does seem very concocted. or at least skewed to "he must be an asiaphile pervert sicko mofo trying to take nekkid pictures of me." if everything is true as you said, i think you blew up before thinking. a level head gets things done rationally, irrationality breeds ignorance.
mr. x
10-05-2003, 04:21 PM
were they pictures of you personally? was there anything of interest in the direction he was picturing? (i assume he took some of the inside?)
anyway if all else fails get a Dr. Phil type to show up as his door and say he's your lawyer and to knock it off or he'll knock his head in
kitty
10-05-2003, 04:26 PM
definitely bug the chief and make sure someone writes up a report on it... I think eventually you could possibly get a restraining order? But maybe after creepy neighbour does something more creepy?
<-- talking out of my ass. lawyer i am not.
deez nuts
10-05-2003, 06:54 PM
do a strip tease for them
Faithless
10-05-2003, 07:39 PM
Who was having the party?
If it was Ben, you could have called the cops about his party being rowdy.
Take pictures of one of his parties next time and post here!
Just a side question: are you a female? If so, I think we can nail this guy a asiaphile. Or a gay asiaphile if you're a guy.
himura-dono
10-06-2003, 02:39 AM
Just a side question: are you a female? If so, I think we can nail this guy a asiaphile. Or a gay asiaphile if you're a guy.
this goes down as today's "posted without thinking" award.
applehead
10-06-2003, 09:26 AM
Just a side question: are you a female? If so, I think we can nail this guy a asiaphile. Or a gay asiaphile if you're a guy.
or maybe he was just a pervert?!?!
achtungbaby
10-06-2003, 10:15 AM
or maybe he was just a pervert?!?!Ockham's razor is always useful when dealing with perversion.
kimpossible
10-06-2003, 10:49 AM
I'm looking for legal advice on what to do about the following situation:
The two old people (male & female) living next to me were having a party today, when my dogs started barking wildly and didn't stop when I called them. I looked outside to see what was causing them to go crazy and I caught my creepy neighbor (male caucasian, late 50's/60's with white hair & moustache/beard) leaning over the fence between our property with his camera and taking pictures of my house/property!!!
I have a window on the side of the house he was taking photos of, so he may have been taking photos of the inside.
I confronted him right then and there and demanded to know what he was doing. Creepy neighbor replied he was just taking pictures of my dogs. I demanded to know WHY and he stammered and bleated out some rubbish about "Ben (referring to himself in the 3rd person!?!) was just having a party and..." upon which he began to walk away.
I asked if he wanted me to call the Police on him and he replied, "Oh no, no..." So I called the cops.
Well, the cops talked to creepy Ben and he told them, "it was an accident" (WTF?!?!), at which point he looked over the fence to me and yelled, "It was an accident and you shouldn't think anything of it."
When I replied how it could be an accident, creepy Ben replied, "Oh, you want to play that way... fine!" The cops then told him to go in his house.
The cops said he didn't do anything criminal so they can't do anything and they left. They didn't even find out what the heck he was taking pictures of! Cops are worthless!
Is there anything that I can do to prevent any further harassment of this sort from this creep?
Postscript: I warned the neighbors who lived near creepy Ben about the incident since they all have small children or teenagers.
Any advice that can be provided would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance!
I'm not a lawyer, so this doesn't constitute legal advice.
You can't do anything until he does 'something' and that 'something' has to be compelling enough for the cops to take action. This is what you need to do in the meantime.
1. Quit badmouthing him around the neighborhood. Sure, he's a prick and if he's enough of a prick people will know anyhow. Keep your personal reputation pure by not engaging in some suburban social warfare. It'll only snowball and make things worse for you in the end.
2. Your friend is a clean notebook that you will use as a personal log dedicated to the Asshole Neighbor. Any time the most minute thing happens, neatly record the date, time and a short summary of the important things that happened. Summarize what the guy says to you and what you did, the consequences of his actions (you were made to feel intimidated, he violated space, called you a slur, etc.) Don't write meandering thoughts that people like cops or court people don't care about. Important events, dated and time stamped, summarize words, actions and consequences.
As a matter of fact, if you haven't logged at all, grab a notebook and backlog the events to the best of your memory. Write it neatly, too.
3. Get a copy of that police report (the day they came out to talk to the guy) if there is one. Keep a copy of that stapled into your logbook. Do the same if there are incidents with official reports. Also keep any written correspondence this guy may send to you in your logbook.
4. Start looking for a new place to live. It's not worth living next to a damn nut, especially if he turns out to be a racist damn nut with a firearm that you don't know about.
5. Ain't another damn thing we can do for you, so work on your documentation, ignore him as much as possible and get the cops to intervene as much as possible. Be cordial to the cops, wait for their questions and *listen* to what they're asking, answer them directly and if you end up in court over this drag your documentation along. It's your best shot.
this goes down as today's "posted without thinking" award.
No, I would say I put plenty of thought into it. Two seconds is more than enough time to realize whats going on here.
himura-dono
10-06-2003, 07:57 PM
No, I would say I put plenty of thought into it. Two seconds is more than enough time to realize whats going on here.
were you a cop on the anna guo case? you sound like one.
yangbahn50
10-07-2003, 04:09 AM
Come on guys, give this dude or gal some advice.
Okay..mr or ms. current resident.
Like what somebody here said, talk to the lieutenant at your local police station first before seeking the police cheif. Don't go straight to the police chief (yeah..there's this stupid hierarchy crap you have to go through).
If the police lt. or chief do not satisfy your concerns against creepy Ben, then contact an attorney. You can also call Asian Legal Organization. I don't know where you live, but in Philadelphia, there are two organizations. Can't recall,...but look in yellow page.
In So Cally, I'm not too familiar. However, I've heard that there are 4-5 different legal organizations for Asians and Asian - Americans.
That's definitely a crime of invasion of privacy.
Even if criminal charges will not be charged against creepy Ben, you CAN still sue his ass in civil court.
Another thing...somebody here said to "threaten" creepy Ben that you will have the police haul him in for questioning the next time he photographs the interior of your house. DON"T do that!!!
That's extortion...and he can counter sue you for that.
Green_Circle
10-07-2003, 05:17 AM
Come on guys, give this dude or gal some advice.
Okay..mr or ms. current resident.
Like what somebody here said, talk to the lieutenant at your local police station first before seeking the police cheif. Don't go straight to the police chief (yeah..there's this stupid hierarchy crap you have to go through).
If the police lt. or chief do not satisfy your concerns against creepy Ben, then contact an attorney. You can also call Asian Legal Organization. I don't know where you live, but in Philadelphia, there are two organizations. Can't recall,...but look in yellow page.
In So Cally, I'm not too familiar. However, I've heard that there are 4-5 different legal organizations for Asians and Asian - Americans.
That's definitely a crime of invasion of privacy.
Even if criminal charges will not be charged against creepy Ben, you CAN still sue his ass in civil court.
Another thing...somebody here said to "threaten" creepy Ben that you will have the police haul him in for questioning the next time he photographs the interior of your house. DON"T do that!!!
That's extortion...and he can counter sue you for that.
Is that for real? Threatening to call the cops is tantamount to 'leaning' on someone?
yangbahn50
10-07-2003, 03:45 PM
Is that for real? Threatening to call the cops is tantamount to 'leaning' on someone?
Green:
Well, don't know much about calling the cops as being a big blackmail-like threat.
However, I do know that if you want your assailant to stop pestering you by threatening them with lawsuits, they can counter sue you for extortion.
Basically, everybody has the right to counter-sue is one is being sued.
So if person A sues person B, person B or his/her attorney can devise some kind of plan to sue person A. This is to reduce the # of lawsuits in court.
mr. x
10-07-2003, 11:21 PM
Ockham's razor is always useful when dealing with perversion.
whats Ockhams razor? i knew at one point but not anymore
kimpossible
10-08-2003, 11:21 AM
I only know of it from economics applications but here ya go
When a new set of facts requires the creation of a new theory the process is far from the orderly picture often presented in books. Many hypothses are proposed, studied, rejected. Researchers discuss their validity (sometimes quite heatedly) proposing experiments which will determine the validity of one or the other, exposing flaws in their least favorite ones, etc. Yet, even when the unfit hypotheses are discarded, several options may remain, in some cases making the exact same predictions, but having very different underlying assumptions. In order to choose among these possible theories a very useful tool is what is called Ockham's razor.
Ockham's Razor is the principle proposed by William of Ockham in the fourteenth century: ``Pluralitas non est ponenda sine neccesitate'', which translates as ``entities should not be multiplied unnecessarily''.
In many cases this is interpreted as ``keep it simple'', but in reality the Razor has a more subtle and interesting meaning. Suppose that you have two competing theories which describe the same system, if these theories have different predictions than it is a relatively simple matter to find which one is better: one does experiments with the required sensitivity and determines which one give the most accurate predictions.
mr. x
10-08-2003, 03:59 PM
oh yeah, the simplest answer is usually correct right?
were you a cop on the anna guo case? you sound like one.
So I guess I can't assume old dirty white men who fly to South Asia to have underage sex with the girls there aren't really dirty old men? Because they might simply be artistic, open minded cultured people?
g-boogie
10-09-2003, 12:44 PM
So I guess I can't assume old dirty white men who fly to South Asia to have underage sex with the girls there aren't really dirty old men? Because they might simply be artistic, open minded cultured people?
they probably are dirty old men but just because the person that was taking the picture was white doesnt automatically make him an asiaphile. like applehead said he could just be a pervert.
Irezumi Kiss
10-09-2003, 06:25 PM
they probably are dirty old men but just because the person that was taking the picture was white doesnt automatically make him an asiaphile. like applehead said he could just be a pervert.
Instead of using Ockham's Razor, why not use a Gilette's disposable and castrate their whole ilk!
:ph34r:
Irezumi Kiss, I couldn't agree more!
mr. x
10-09-2003, 10:03 PM
Instead of using Ockham's Razor, why not use a Gilette's disposable and castrate their whole ilk!
:ph34r:
bwahahahah
but why gillete? that sounds like something erotic, in a nasty sense :sick:
angel nympho
10-10-2003, 01:39 AM
Ok. Was anybody even IN the room his camera seemed to be pointing at?
Anyway, first off, this doesn't seem like anything huge enough to be calling the cops for... YET. Warning the neighbors might not be necessary, but telling them what happened will probably help get a little bit of insight on what kind of guy this creep is. Maybe your neighbors have noticed something funny going on with him. I'd say don't do anything too drastic yet, but if it happens again, go for the throat.
CurrentResident
10-15-2003, 07:59 PM
Hey, thanks for all the advice guys (except the couple stupid posts - you know who you are) :)
I talked to a lawyer friend and he's giving me some ideas. I guess it wouldn't hurt to talk to the police chief either, since the cops who showed up didn't do jack.
And I didn't expressly state the guy was an asiaphile (a pervert most likely) but I can see how someone could get that impression from my post. It may have just been subconciously in the back of my mind and it came through in my post.
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