Paper stalkers

[Anima]

Yeah, it's a long, pretty old story but it's one everyone should read and it goes to show how one person can use the government to make the lives of people around him a living hell.

Dowl didn't limit his document filings to the Zimpel Street property; he moved on to the Robinsons' other properties. He filed a different kind of lien on a duplex they had just built on Chippewa Street, which prevented them from selling it, and on their residence on Panola Street, claiming damages for violations of "civil rights," "paralegal fees at $65 a (sic) hour" and "penalties under RICO," the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, often used against organized crime figures and drug gangs.

Altogether, Dowl claimed more than $2.4 million in "damages," then served the Robinsons with an eviction notice on their home, Brad Robinson said.

Dowl also filed a petition in Civil District Court asking the court to direct the sheriff to seize the Robinsons' residence. In that June 2006 petition, which court records show was denied within a week, Dowl claimed he was the owner of 8633 Zimpel and the Robinsons were renting it from him.
The Robinsons then had to go to court and pay an attorney to get a judge to declare the Chippewa and Panola liens void and remove them from the public record.

After Hurricane Katrina, Dowl tried to evict Poydras again, court records show. He had the notice served to Poydras' damaged 7th Ward home on Frenchmen Street -- long after she had relocated to Alexandria, Poydras' lawyer, Arias, contended in court. Because she had evacuated, she didn't get the eviction notice and didn't respond within the five days allotted to fight it.

Judge Charles A. Imbornone granted the eviction from the Livingston Street duplex -- even while Poydras had hired a contractor to fix it up, Poydras said.

Several times, Dowl has taken advantage of state eviction law: Anybody can file to evict anybody from any property, at any time, and they don't have to prove cause or ownership rights to have an eviction notice served by a constable.

As Arias, acting as Poydras' lawyer, argued in one 2006 court case, Dowl "can claim that he owns City Hall and evict the mayor five days later."

After learning Dowl had squatted in her Livingston Street duplex, Poydras filed her own eviction papers. While Dowl fought the eviction -- unsuccessfully -- the court initially allowed him to stay in the house and ordered him to pay $2,500 a month in rent, to be held by the court and ultimately paid to Poydras. But Dowl made just one payment, court records show. When he didn't make a second payment at the end of 2006, Judge Angelique Reed ordered him evicted immediately, terminating his appeal.

In a 2006 Civil District Court filing -- after Dowl tried to have a restraining order placed against Poydras -- Arias described Dowl's modus operandi as a carefully choreographed four-part scheme:

"First, Dowl fabricates and records a phony lien or document; second, Dowl quit-claims his bogus lien to his former wife, Barbara Dowl; third, Dowl then appears as the 'agent' for Barbara Dowl to evict the lawful owner; fourth, Dowl often files a second suit with the same or similar subject matter in order to forum shop and get a second bite at the proverbial apple," the lawyer wrote.

http://blog.nola.com/times-picayune/2007/12/local_families_fight_felon_who.html

A couple of things not mentioned in the story, the Robinson's estimate that Dowl cost them over $90,000 in legal fees and Dowl was eventually sentenced to 10 years in prison. However, it should also be said that the only reason he was stopped (at least until he gets out of prison) was because he got caught stealing from the government and if wasn't for that he would still be harassing those poor people.

 

[MARIS61]

Karma got him, he's out of circulation.

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