OT: Cops Wife Convicted of Trashing House

[HarryBosch]

Monique Acosta, 36, was convicted of vandalizing and stealing from a home she and her husband, a former San Diego Police officer, owned before a bank foreclosed on it.

http://temecula.patch.com/articles/cop-s-wife-convicted-of-trashing-house

The wife of a former San Diego Police officer was convicted today of trashing their home after a bank foreclosed on it.

A jury at the Southwest Justice Center in French Valley found Monique Acosta, 36, wife of Robert Acosta, 40, guilty of felony theft of fixtures, according to court records.

The jury deliberated all day, and will continue tomorrow to deliberate on Robert Acosta’s verdict on Monday after an alternate juror takes the place of a primary, who could not return after today, according to John Hall, a spokesperson for the District Attorney.

Monique Acosta faces four years in prison, though a sentencing date will not be set until after the jury decides a verdict for her husband.

The woman and her husband were evicted in 2010 from their home on Via Laguna in French Valley. When the bank got the house, they found the home with tens of thousands of dollars of damage.

Walls were spray painted with various scribbles and drawings, drawers, cabinet doors, countertops, air conditioners and tiles were missing, dye was scrubbed into grout, epoxy was dumped in the pool along with several torn-out trees and many fixtures were missing, according to witnesses who testified during the trial.

Defense argued the damage was done because they had to move out in a hurry and planned to come back to clean, but the bank took possession of the home sooner than they expected.

Josh Knight, the defendants’ attorney, argued they took fixtures, but they were taking only things they paid for out of their own pockets and believed they owned.

Prosecutor Marcus Garrett said during closing arguments on Thursday this was the couple’s way of “waving goodbye to the bank without putting up four of their fingers.”

The couple offered to make a “cash-for-keys” deal with the bank; if they got the money, the bank would get the house in good condition. The bank declined.

Photos shown during the trial showed the couple and some friends stripping rock facing from the home’s exterior, removing drawers, taking down a garage door and cutting trees down at their stumps.

[bearishgurl]

I don’t know the facts of this case but based upon the amount of time these defaulting trustor(s) had to completely trash the place AFTER the bank took it back, I suspect this is another sign of “lender malaise.” Had their lender timely foreclosed and timely began eviction proceedings immediately after the filing of their trustee’s deed, these former owners/squatters may have realized that the eviction on their record would have prevented them from renting anywhere as they presumably have at least one local job to go to every day and left timely and peacefully.

Lenders are sleeping in their own beds which were NOT carefully made because they allowed (and continue to allow) their scumbag defaulting trustors to walk all over them in all phases of the foreclosure process, perpetuating their already-inflated “entitlement mentality.”

Now these “subjects” (or at least the spouse) is facing sentencing for criminal charges for theft and vandalism and the husband likely disciplinary action (after his agencies lawyers comb thru their trial transcripts to determine the depth of their employee’s culpability). And they WILL because they can get them for FREE! It goes to the cop’s “integrity” that he was sworn to uphold.

It seems like the foreclosing bene could also sue them for damages after the conclusion of the criminal matter and get an easy judgment against them. After she is a convicted felon and can’t make a decent living anymore, the “husband/cop” would end up holding the bag for both of them and get his wages assigned after the judgment. This would be his just comeuppance coming home after his shifts and witnessing his spouse going thru these tirades and doing nothing to stop her, that is … if they were still living together.

She couldn’t have done all this damage in ONE DAY.

Another moral of this story … pick your “partner” you will be legally joined-at-the-hip with in every way very, VERY carefully. In many ways, you BOTH are viewed as ONE and the SAME :=0

[bearishgurl]

I see now that the article stated the husband was a “former” SD police officer. Perhaps he was already “disciplined” for this incident.

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