Man Gets 2 Years for Harassment of Neighbors

A 77-year-old Tujunga man was sentenced Thursday to two years in jail and ordered to enroll in a mental-health program for harassing his neighbors and falsely accusing them of illegal drug activity, authorities said.

Ludovit Salka was sentenced in San Fernando Municipal Court by Judge John Gunn, who also placed Salka on three years’ probation and ordered him not to annoy, harass or molest the victims--six neighbors on Estepa Drive--after he serves his time.

Salka was ordered to begin his sentence immediately and check into a locked mental facility as soon as he is released from jail, said Robert Fratianne, the deputy city attorney who prosecuted the case.

A jury, after a four-day trial, found Salka guilty on June 6 of 20 misdemeanor counts of disturbing the peace and being a public nuisance.

The case stemmed from incidents in 1995 and this year in which Salka harassed his neighbors by staking out their homes, taking photographs of them and visitors, and screaming obscenities at them from his yard and the street at all hours of the day and night, Fratianne said.

Salka’s campaign against his neighbors went on for 23 years and resulted in the city attorney’s office obtaining a Superior Court order in 1990 banning Salka from making 911 calls reporting drug activity, Fratianne said.

Salka made 582 calls to 911 in a single month to report drug activity, Fratianne said.