Homeowner slapped with massive fine from spying HOA for fixing door INSIDE her property
Jinah Kim, 53, of Oak Park in Ventura County, was stunned when she was hit with a violation for repairing a doorway in her condo in the Shadow Ridge complex, the Los Angeles Times reported.
The complex's snooping manager discovered the work after peering through her open garage door.
The homeowners' association accused Kim of rerouting shared plumbing lines during her effort to clear a blockage in the doorway between her office and dining room.
She was immediately fined $100 and ordered to return the door to its original condition. She was warned that failure to do so would trigger a daily fine of $500 until the issue was resolved.
'It's a door within my home that no one else sees and no one else is affected by,' Kim told the Times.
'It felt like accidently tapping someone in the hallway and getting the death penalty,' she added.
However, a new rule limiting HOA fines to $100 per violation unless there are health or safety concerns took effect in the state on July 1, sparing her from having to pay up to $3,500 per week for refusing to undo the renovation.
'It was a big relief,' Kim said. 'Having a daily $500 fine hanging over my head was a huge source of anxiety.'
In an effort to conceal exposed plumbing pipes, the previous owners of the two-bedroom, three-bathroom townhouse filled the top of the doorway with drywall, ultimately creating a barrier.
Frustrated by having to duck under the blockage every time she moved between the two rooms, Kim decided to formally request the HOA's approval to have it fixed.
Her request was denied, with the association raising concerns that the work would require temporarily shutting off shared water and tampering with pipes.
She decided to move forward with the hourlong fix, hiring a contractor to get the job done.
Shadow Ridge's general manager caught sight of the renovation just a few months later.
The next day, she was hit with a barrage of violations - one for the door, one for installing an EV charger in her garage, one for having her dog off-leash and one for having an unapproved rug on her balcony.
While she resolved the other violations without issue, she stood her ground on the door - refusing to restore it to what she viewed as an impractical and inefficient design.
A letter arrived on June 27, repeating the accusation that she had messed with shared plumbing lines. In it, she was warned that the HOA was ready to start hitting her with $500 fines every single day.
But her nightmare ended on July 1, when Governor Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill 130 (AB 130) into law - a hotly debated reform hailed as a win for homeowners and a major blow to the power of HOAs.
While the main goal of the new law is to speed up housing projects by relaxing some environmental rules, it also makes changes to the Davis-Stirling Act - the set of laws that govern how HOAs operate in California.
The most significant change is the $100 cap on HOA fines. The bill also stops HOAs from charging interest or late fees on violations, and, as long as homeowners fix problems before a hearing, they can't be punished.
Dyanne Peters, an attorney who practices HOA law, admitted that no one likes paying fines, but explained that HOAs don't use them to make money.
She said that fines are meant to discourage behavior that disrupts the community.
'It's frustrating because these new rules are handcuffing homeowners associations,' Peters told the Times.
'It takes away the ability for HOAs to govern their own communities. Clients are calling us asking, "What's the point?"'
Luke Carlson, an attorney who helps homeowners with HOA disputes, called the new law 'long overdue.'
'AB 130 is more than a law - it's a signal that Sacramento is finally starting to hear the voices of homeowners who've suffered in silence for too long,' Carlson told the Times.
'Everyone agrees bad HOAs are a bad thing, and it takes legislative reform to stop them.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mail
5 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Influencer breaks his silence on high-stakes poker ring allegedly linked to NBA superstar and Israeli mobsters that led to murder
Playboy influencer and entrepreneur Tony Toutouni claims he is not involved in an alleged network of clandestine high-stakes poker ring that investigators allege is connected to Israeli and Latino organized crime groups. Toutouni said he has shut down his poker parties after a man named Emil Lahaziel was gunned down on June 2023 in front of a Hollywood Hills West home the influencer and his partners were renting. The motive for Lahaziel's killing is still unknown, but his death led the Los Angeles Police Department to investigate poker games allegedly run by former NBA all-star Gilbert Arenas and five others, according to the LA Times. Toutouni, who is best known for flashing his exotic cars and a bevy of scantily-clad models on his social media, told the Daily Mail his poker games were played with mostly his 'very close friends' and he never took a cut of any of the money for hosting. Toutouni is not facing any charges related to Lahaziel's death, and he has not been charged in connection to the illegal poker games allegedly organized by Arenas. 'It'a all bulls**t and completely not related to whatever the NBA player [Arenas] was arrested for,' Toutouni said. 'These are completely false assumptions and I wasn't involved in any "circuit" of gambling parties. My friends and I have been playing poker for years, and nothing violent ever happened until that [shooting]. 'In any place where there's gambling, there's going to be good and bad people. But when you lose, you're gonna have to pay up. That's how the game is played wherever you go.' The allegations of high-stakes games involving 'deep-pocketed square johns' and organized crime figures made headlines after Arenas and five other suspects were indicted on July 15 for allegedly operating an illegal gambling business that the three-time NBA All Star owns in Encino, Calif. Arenas has pled not guilty. Gilbert Arenas was among half a dozen defendants indicted for allegedly operating and hosting illegal poker games out of his Encino, Calif. mansion According to the indictment unsealed on July 30, Arenas and the other defendants allegedly managed illegal 'Pot Limit Omega' poker games and collected a 'rake' — a fee the house charged from each pot either as a percentage. Others who were charged in connection to the Encino card game include Yevgeni Gershman, 49, of Woodland Hills; Evgenni Tourevski, 48, of Tarzana; Allan Austria, 52, of West Hills; Yarin Cohen, 27, of Tarzana and Ievgen Krachun, 43, of Tarzana. Federal investigators said the illegal poker games operated from September 2021 to July 2022. Agents allege Gershman hired young women to serve drinks, provide massages and offer 'companionship' to the poker players in exchange for chips. The women were then allegedly charged a percentage of their earnings from working the games. Chefs, valets, and armed security guards also were hired to staff these illegal poker games, investigators said in the warrants. Federal prosecutors allege Gershman is a 'high-level member' of a 'violent' transnational crime organization based in Israel that 'engages in extortion and drug trafficking, among other rackets,' according to an affidavit obtained by the Daily Mail. 'In Gershman's digital device, law enforcement fond extensive communications between defendant [Allan Austria] and Gershman, in which the two discussed illegal gambling operations, debt collection of gambling debts, and refer to each other as 'brother,' evincing the close bond between the two,' wrote Assistant US Attorney Samuel Diaz in the affidavit. The US Attorney's Office also alleged a man named Arthur Kats staged the mansion to host the games 'at Arenas' direction', 'found co-conspirators to host the games and collected rent from the co-conspirators on Arenas' behalf.' Kats also was arrested and indicted on August 7. All of the suspects have pleaded not guilty to the charges. According to a search warrant affidavit, LAPD detectives and FBI agents raided Arenas' Encino home in 2022, where they found a poker party 'in full swing', according to the LA Times. Agents detained a total of 36 men and dozens of 'provocatively dressed' women, according to the affidavit. The publication reported agents zeroed in on Arenas after a 'desperate man' went to the LAPD to report he had lost $1.2 million playing cards. The unidentified man told police that participants had to put in $15,000 in order to participate in the high-stakes poker game. The players didn't exchange cash but played on a 'marker' and players' losses and wins were settled at the end of the night. The man told cops that Israeli mob figures threatened to kidnap his children and 'toss a grenade into his home' when he stopped making the payments on his gambling debt. He then fled to Israel where he told investigators he met 'some men', who allegedly told him his entire debt would be forgiven if he paid around $600,000. When asked if the men were from the notorious Musli mafia, the man replied, 'No comment.' 'The Musli crime group is the single largest and one of the most violent organized crime groups in Israel," a detective wrote in the affidavit. 'They are known for engaging in murder, car bombings and extortion rackets throughout the world.' The man also told investigators that Gershman hosted illegal games at Arenas' Encino home. Arenas has pleaded not guilty to the charges and was released on $50,000 bond. Trial is scheduled for September 23. The former NBA star's house on Gable Drive has since been sold and is now operating as a drug rehabilitation center. Arenas, who once played in the NBA for the Golden State Warriors, Washington Wizards, Orlando Magic, and Memphis Grizzlies, took to his social media a day after. The video, posted on his social media, was captioned: 'I'm Back on the Streets. This ain't got shyt to do with me ' just rented the house' Wasn't apart of the Festivities'. 'I'm snitching,' he said of his co-defendants. 'I don't know your name. What's your name? Igor? Yeah, let me write that down.' The Daily Mail has reached out to Arenas's attorney. Toutouni said he has never played any poker games with Arenas, Gershman or any of the other suspects. The entrepreneur, who has been blasted by his critics for his provocative social media posts with scantily-clad models, told the Daily Mail his card games were 'just between a bunch of friends' and claims they were not organized illegal operations. When asked if his poker game nights also had women catering to the male players, Toutouni told the Daily Mail: 'I mean, usually when there's people playing poker, there are women there, but that doesn't mean anything illegal was happening. It doesn't mean they are prostitutes.' Toutouni, who goes by the social media name 'Lunatic Living', said Emil Lahaziel was not a close friend, but was invited to participate to his poker party the night of June 6. Lahaziel was living in Miami, Florida but hailed from Ashkelon, a coastal city in the southern district of Israel. His family described Lahaziel as a doting father and often posted pictures of his lavish lifestyle with his family in Miami. The father-of-five wasn't afraid to flash his wealth with images of private jets and sparkling blue poolside shots posted across Instagram. 'We have been playing with the same group for years, but I had met him about two weeks before so I didn't know him that well,' Toutouni said of Lahaziel. 'He was down quite a bit, maybe like $200,000. He was just a bad player. I watched him play and he was just horrible.' The game went all night and into the early morning. At around 2 am on June 7, 2023, two men wearing masks pulled up in a Dodge truck and told the valet to summon Lahaziel from the game. As Lahaziel walked out of the house, he was shot in the face and neck, according to investigators. LAPD arrested Ricardo Corral and Jose Martinez Sanchez for the shooting death of Lahaziel a month later. In a preliminary hearing held last month, LAPD Det. Dave Vinton testified Lahaziel had moved to Los Angeles to break into the vape industry. Lahaziel met Corral on Hollywood Boulavard where he allegedly sold the struggling entrepreneur and his friends a small amount of cocaine. From then on, Corral would collect money for Lahaziel, Vinton testified. The detective did not testify what the money was used for. Surveillance cameras did not capture the shooting, but caught a hooded gunman running up the stairs and point a pistol at a valet. Vinton testified Martinez drove the getaway car that was parked several blocks away. Corral and Sanchez have pleaded not guilty. Toutouni told the Daily Mail he and his friends are no longer renting the Hollywood Hills home where Lahaziel was shot to death. He also has stopped the poker games indefinitely. 'I haven't played since the day of the shooting,' Toutouni said. 'I never slept in that house after that and I haven't hosted any more porker gamed after. I kind of just walked away from that whole thing and don't want any part of it.'
Daily Mail
10 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Tearful babysitter who sent girls to her boyfriend to molest gets 100 years to life behind bars
A babysitter who delivered little girls to her pedophile boyfriend to molest has been sentenced to 100 years to life in prison. Brittney Mae Lyon, 31, of San Diego, broke down in tears on hearing the news in court after pleading guilty in May to two counts of a lewd act upon a child and two counts of a forcible lewd act upon a child. She admitted further counts of kidnapping, residential burglary and sexually assaulting multiple victims. Lyon advertised her babysitting services online - with a particular interest in working with special needs children - and earned the trust of parents who left their kids in her care. But in reality she was sexually abusing the little girls and providing them to her boyfriend Samuel Cabrera, 31, who would film himself molesting them. The victims were aged between three and seven and some were autistic and non-verbal. The abuse came to light in 2016 when a seven-year-old girl told her mother she no longer wanted to be near Lyon, a long-time friend of the family who had acted as a sitter. The girl told her mom about the abuse who went to the police, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune. An investigation led Carlsbad police to Cabrera, then 22, and both he and Lyon were arrested. A search of Cabrera's car uncovered a double-locked box containing six computer hard drives with hundreds of videos of him abusing victims. Some of the victims in the videos were drugged and the clips were often filmed with multiple cameras to capture different angles, prosecutors said. The horrifying tapes featured multiple unknown victims, prompting an investigation to track down other families who had hired Lyon as a babysitter. Parents of three of the victims had met Lyon through a babysitting website where she had 'touted her interest in working with special needs children,' according to the San Diego County District Attorney's Office. One mother saw a news story about Lyon and Cabrera's awful crimes and reached out to police, only to learn her own three-year-old was among the victims filmed being abused by the twisted couple. Another victim was a developmentally delayed seven-year-old with autism, who could not dress or bathe herself or speak. Lyon and Cabrera met in high school and he initially convinced her to secretly record women getting changed in dressing rooms and gym locker rooms, prosecutors said. Then, the pedophile asked Lyon to bring children in her care to his home - where she participated in some of the abuse, according to prosecutors. Cabrera went on trial in 2019 charged with 35 felonies, including multiple counts involving child molestation, kidnapping, burglary and conspiracy. It took a North County jury just two hours to convict him on all charges. He was sentenced to eight terms of life in prison without the possibility of parole and 300 additional years. Lyon's case was stalled by Covid courtroom closures and by changes of attorneys. She has been represented by three different defense attorneys over the past nine years: a public defender, then private counsel and then another public defender. At her sentencing inside the Vista Courthouse in San Diego Thursday, the babysitter's defense attorney read a statement on her behalf. 'For nine years, I've thought about what I would say today. I've come to the conclusion that there are no words that would make any of the harm and trauma I've caused any better,' the statement read. 'The words "I'm sorry" are far too simple for the amount of trauma I've caused and the amount of regret that I feel.' Parents of the victims also spoke in court on Thursday. One mother said Lyon 'used her credentials' - such as studying child development - 'to lull us into a state of comfort so we didn't feel like we had to ask a lot of questions about what Brittany did with our daughter when they were together.' What the mother thought was a special trip for their daughter to play places she later learned were 'molestation sessions,' she said. Cabrera is not eligible for parole, but Lyon - who was sentenced to 100 years to life - is. This means it is possible she could be released after serving just a third of her sentence. Some of the victims' parents slammed the possibility that she could be freed in future. 'It's a slap in the face to drag us through this field of broken glass for 10 years only to give Brittney a break,' one mother said. A California law change now allows for 'elder parole' in which inmates who have served at least 20 years of their sentence can petition for a parole hearing when they turn 50. While legislative efforts to exclude sex offenders from this rule have stalled, the San Diego County District Attorney's Office has continued to push for the change. 'The age of 50 is hardly "elderly," particularly in the realm of child molesters, who need only be in a position of trust and power to access and sexually abuse children,' District Attorney Summer Stephan said in a news release in reference to Lyon's sentencing.
The Sun
10 hours ago
- The Sun
Yucaipa mom's desperate plea after her seven-month-old baby was kidnapped while she was ‘attacked outside store'
A SEVEN-MONTH-OLD baby has been kidnapped during an attack on his mother outside a store in California. Rebecca Haro has made a desperate plea for her son, Emmanuel, to be returned to her after she says she was knocked unconscious and he was snatched from her. 3 3 3 The terrifying ordeal took place while Rebecca was trying to change her son's diaper in her truck outside a sporting goods store in Yucaipa, San Bernardino County, on Thursday evening. Officers from the County Sheriff's Department were called to a Big 5 parking lot just before 8 pm, sparking a frantic search for the missing baby. "I'm begging you please, if you know anything, I'm begging you please bring him back," Emmanuel's mom pleaded while speaking to CBS affiliate KCAL News. The mother of six recalled how she and her family were at football practice and she took Emmanuel with her to buy a mouthguard for her older son. It was then that she said she noticed he needed a new diaper and removed him from the car seat in her truck to lay him down on the chair. That was when she claims she was hit from behind and her son was kidnapped. "Someone say, 'Hola.' I couldn't even turn, I don't remember nothing," she said. "On August 14, 2025, at about 7:47 p.m., deputies from the Yucaipa Station responded to the 34000 block of Yucaipa Boulevard regarding a reported missing seven-month-old boy," the Sheriff's Department said in a statement. "This is an active investigation, and we are seeking the public's help in locating the child. "He was last seen wearing a black Nike onesie, he weighs about 21 pounds, is approximately 24 inches tall, has brown hair, brown eyes, and is cross-eyed. "If you have any information, please call 911 or Sheriff's Dispatch at 909-387-8313. No additional information is available at this time." .
