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Owner of Filthy House Goes to Jail

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SPECIAL TO THE TIMES

Elena Zagustin, the Cal State Long Beach professor whose filthy Huntington Harbour house has been the center of a 14-year neighborhood battle, began a five-day jail sentence Wednesday night after a judge found her in contempt of court.

Orange County Superior Court Judge Theodore E. Millard ordered the incarceration last week after ruling that Zagustin filed phony court papers in an effort to delay a civil case brought by her neighbors.

In his ruling, Millard said Zagustin filed the bogus documents in an apparent effort to avoid selling the home, as he had ordered her to do in January. Among the documents she filed was a summons asking Millard to appear in South Dakota probate court to defend his order.

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He said the “court” was actually a nongovernment tribunal run by survivalists.

“When I first looked at the documents, it appeared I was being sued in some recognized court,” Millard said Wednesday in an interview. “But when I looked closer, I realized she filed phony-baloney, nonexistent court documents.”

The jail sentence is not directly related to the ongoing criminal case filed by the city of Huntington Beach relating to numerous code violations at her home.

A jury in November convicted Zagustin of 69 health and safety code violations at the home, and a judge later sentenced her to three months in jail. But the judge stayed the sentence last month, saying Zagustin had made significant strides in cleaning up the property.

Surrounding homeowners sued Zagustin in civil court, hoping to get her to clean up the house or sell it.

The neighbors--who have long complained about the accumulation of rubbish, human waste, rodents and insects at the house--expressed satisfaction with Millard’s decision.

“We’ve been upset for 10 years,” said neighbor Dave Flynn, 48. “Millard finally read this thick, complicated case and said, ‘Hey this is crazy.’ He finally stomped his fist down and said, ‘You cannot file any more fraudulent documents.’ We hope this judge finally will bring some sense to this case.”

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Zagustin could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

Neighbors have won several civil suits against Zagustin and will receive a large portion of the estimated $300,000 that will be distributed to various debtors once the house is sold.

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