Messy Professor Held in Contempt of Court

HUNTINGTON BEACH — Elena Zagustin, the Cal State Long Beach professor whose filthy Huntington Harbour house has been the center of a 14-year neighborhood battle, was jailed this week after a judge found her in contempt of court.

Her five-day incarceration comes a week after Orange County Superior Court Judge Theodore E. Millard found that Zagustin filed phony court papers in an effort to delay a civil case filed by her neighbors.

In his ruling, Millard said she filed the fake documents in an apparent effort to avoid selling the home, which he ordered her to do in January.

Among the documents she filed was a summons for Millard to appear in a South Dakota probate court to defend his order.

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

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

The jail term is not directly related to the ongoing criminal case filed by the city of Huntington Beach relating to numerous code violations at Zagustin’s trash-strewn Huntington Harbour home.

Surrounding homeowners have filed suit against Zagustin in civil court, hoping to get her to clean up the house or sell it.