Condo Owner Forced to Post No-Drug Signs : Courts: The city hopes the warnings at the site will scare off potential narcotics users. Homeowner says he’s the victim of ‘hearsay.’

In an unusual move, a Superior Court judge has ordered a condominium owner to post signs stating that his home is not to be a site of illegal drug sales, use or possession.

But the condo owner, Garrie Charles Culver, said in an interview Wednesday that he is a victim of “hearsay” and is innocent.

“Can you imagine what that looks like with neighbors coming up,” he said of the signs posted on his garage and front door. “It’s slander as far as I’m concerned.”

Culver, who turned 46 Wednesday, said he has never been arrested and denied that drugs were ever sold from his home.

“I thought that in America you are innocent until proven guilty,” he said. “They say it’s not me that the charge is against, it’s on the house that can’t speak for itself. . . . It’s all hearsay.”

He said he plans to appeal the court order.

The case against Culver began June 17, when city officials, acting out of frustration over what they and some neighbors said was continued drug sales at his condominium, filed a civil suit in Superior Court.

The suit describes numerous calls to police from neighbors and anonymous sources that drugs were being sold at the Windsor Court condo that Culver owns with his wife, Donna, at 11800 Tulip Court. Police served search warrants there, but no substantial amounts of illegal drugs were found, officials said.

“Most of the people in the neighborhood know that this is a house that . . . people who want to buy narcotics frequent,” Fountain Valley Police Officer Paul McInnis, who investigated many of the complaints, said in an interview Wednesday.

Superior Court Judge C. Robert Jameson on Monday issued a preliminary injunction that orders Culver to post the signs outside his two-story condo. The order also allows the city to file a copy of the injunction with the county recorder’s office notifying any potential buyer that the condo is under court order.

A violation of the injunction is similar to contempt of court and carries a five-day jail sentence.

Culver said he tacked up the signs July 7, the day he appeared before Judge Jameson. The signs read: “These premises are under court order not to be used for the sale or use of illegal drugs. No illegal drugs will be sold or given to any persons entering or leaving premises. These premises are being watched by FVPD to assure compliance with this order. A violation of this order could subject you and the occupants of this location to criminal and or civil procedures.”

According to the lawsuit, police searched the Culver condo three times in the past year but found no substantial amounts of illegal drugs to make a felony arrest. However, the lawsuit said police found drug paraphernalia and marijuana seeds and a small amount of marijuana on Laura Ann Riley, 34, Culver’s sister-in-law, who was arrested and charged with a misdemeanor. Riley no longer lives at the condo, Culver said.

But officials said the action was not enough to curtail the activity, so the city filed suit, naming Culver and Riley as defendants.

“Evidently, it’s the only thing we could do,” said Mayor James Petrikin. “The city’s attitude is although this is being followed in the court system (with Riley’s arrest), we all know how long that can take. We decided this was something we could do in the meantime.”

Petrikin said the city hopes the signs will scare off potential drug users and help the neighborhood recover from the activity. But several neighbors interviewed at the quiet cul-de-sac were not so sure.

“As far as the sign goes, what is that going to do?” said a 29-year-old woman who identified herself only as Angelique. “If they think that is going to discourage people from selling drugs, they have to be hallucinating themselves.”

She and other neighbors, who describe the condominium complex as quiet and family-oriented, conceded that they have seen a lot of cars coming and going from Culver’s garage but have not actually witnessed any drug sales.

Taking a criminal matter to the civil courts has become a matter of course in other cities, but it has not been used much, if at all, in Orange County, according to police and criminal attorneys.

Ralph Lochridge, spokesman for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency office in Los Angeles, said this is the first time he has heard of the courts ordering the posting of signs on a suspected drug house.