Lawsuit claims Linn-Benton Housing Authority subsidized felons
By Thom Jensen and KATU Web StaffCORVALLIS, Ore. – Some families living in public housing in the Willamette Valley claim they were terrorized by criminals living next to them – and the man in charge of the housing agency would do nothing to help.
She is representing herself in federal court, claiming she and her daughter lived in fear in public housing and that the housing authority was subsidizing felons. "We were terrified all the time," she said. "We were absolutely terrified." Rosenfeld said the problems started in 1999, and she went to the head of the housing authority, James Hackett, with her concerns.
They were frightened of their new neighbors. That included 56-year-old Barry Allen Brown, who has a criminal history dating back 21 years, including convictions for stalking and assault. Rosenfeld said as soon as Brown moved in he began terrorizing children, especially her 9-year-old daughter Angelina – whose bedroom was right below Brown's home.
But she said the housing authority not only ignored her complaints but brought in more criminals. "They knew the criminal histories of these fellows, they put them in," Rosenfeld said. "Mr. Hackett said he was going to place them anyway for money reasons." After Brown was transferred to another home, 45-year-old James Reid moved in upstairs. He had a criminal record stretching 14 years that included convictions for robbery, forgery, identity theft, burglary and dealing drugs. "He had come out of the penitentiary the day that he moved in," Rosenfeld said. Then there was 45-year-old James Hickman, a registered sex offender. A predatory sex offender notification obtained by KATU listed Hickman's home address at 2631 Southwest Leonard in Corvallis, a home managed by the housing authority and right next door to the Rosenfelds. The notification even lists his target victims as minor females. Hackett, the head of the housing authority, said due to confidentiality rules he couldn't talk about current or past clients of housing assistance. But Rosenfeld and three former housing authority employees allege that the housing authority had to fill its vacancies to justify building Camas Commons, a family-oriented neighborhood of 56 homes. Hackett created the project. A former employee who spoke to KATU on condition of anonymity said the plan was well known around the housing authority offices. "There was a need for money, and the only way you could get more money was to keep the units occupied, so you fill them with whoever comes along, no regards to any of the other people," the former employee told KATU. The agency collects and distributes more than $12 million in taxpayer funded housing vouchers. The former employee said he warned Hackett about Brown because of Brown's past. "I was quite frankly afraid that something violent was going to happen," the former employee said. But he said Hackett ignored him and other employees – another claim that Hackett denied. Hackett, pictured below, told KATU he did not knowingly put felons in federally subsidized housing. "Our policy is that people who have recent violent criminal or drug-related criminal activity are ineligible," Hackett said. In 2005, Congressman Peter DeFazio wrote the Linn County and Benton County commissioners, warning them that: "sex offenders are ineligible for admission to public housing." The commissioners ultimately oversee the agency. Rosenfeld was not the only one making complaints. KATU obtained a stack of letters to the housing authority and police reports indicating several neighbors also complained. The paperwork also shows there were at least seven known criminals living in that public housing during the time Rosenfeld lived there, but none in the past two years. |
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November 23, 2008
- Eugene, Oregon
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One mother, Caterina Rosenfeld, filed a lawsuit against the Linn-Benton Housing Authority, saying its managers denied her right to fair and safe housing.
"I phoned Mr. Hackett first maybe weekly and then at times daily," she said. "The other mothers wrote letters to him telling him that we couldn't live like this, that we were frightened for our children."
"He was tapping at her window at two in the morning," Rosenfeld said. "He was jumping up and down over her bedroom at night."
