All Agree It’s a Dirty, Rotten Shame --but Whose?

No one likes a good conspiracy theory more than I--except, perhaps, Orange County Superior Court Judge Robert H. Gallivan. He has some residents of Huntington Harbour wondering if he’s seen one too many episodes of “The X-Files.”

The theory in question here comes from Elena Zagustin, a Cal State Long Beach professor who we can assume is a very bright woman. She teaches civil engineering, not a profession known for madcap thinkers.

Therefore, she has my attention for her theory, which, roughly, goes as follows:

For several years, her neighbors in Huntington Harbour have had such a vendetta against her that they’d stoop to anything to drive her out. She’s not sure why, but she thinks part of it has to do with her Russian heritage.

Unable to find conventional means to drive her out, the neighbors resorted to befouling her house. They introduced vermin and insects to her home, polluted it with trash and, in their most brazen act, left accumulations of human waste.

They convinced city inspectors over the years that Zagustin was responsible for those repeated deeds, finally leading the city to take Zagustin to court for 95 alleged violations.

A series of judges joined the conspiracy, and then, in the worst blow yet, a Superior Court jury convicted Zagustin last November of 69 infractions. One of the jurors said, “I wondered how anyone could live that way.”

Last month, Judge Gallivan sentenced Zagustin to three months in jail, but stayed the order as she began the cleanup of her house.

On Friday, in a move that shocked her neighbors, the judge indicated Zagustin may never go to jail.

“The house is in essential compliance,” Zagustin’s attorney, Charles Mullis, told me after the proceedings. “Everything has been stayed. She has a come-back date in 90 days. We hope to keep her out of jail.”

Mullis went on to say that Zagustin’s neighbors “are not the nice innocent victims like they’re portrayed.”

I’ll say this: If so, the neighbors have been remarkably diligent in their conspiracy.

This newspaper’s first mention of the saga came in September 1988, when, citing health and safety concerns, county officials removed Zagustin’s aged father from her home. Inspectors reported finding, among other things, animal feces, open cans of rotting food, spider eggs in the oven and the air thick with gnats.

If her theory is true, Zagustin has encountered the most devilish, calculating set of neighbors ever assembled in one block. For them to band together and unleash hundreds of gnats in someone’s home is nothing short of fiendish.

Jim Walker is a Santa Ana community activist who has aligned himself with Zagustin’s neighbors. I’ve known Walker for several years and had never pictured him as a conspirator.

And yet. . . How well do we really know our friends?

I talked to Walker after Zagustin’s court appearance Friday. He was incensed that the judge seemed to be congratulating Zagustin for cleaning up her home instead of insisting she serve at least minimal jail time.

“This is just the system turned upside down for the residents of Morse Circle [Zagustin’s block],” Walker said. “It left a lot of them not able to comprehend what the judge had in mind.”

What bothered them, Walker said, was that the judge--by admonishing neighbors to leave her alone--seemed to give credence to some of Zagustin’s accusations. “They had the feeling of being considered criminals by the judge,” Walker said.

Maybe the judge buys the conspiracy theory, I suggested. Maybe he sees this as the most diabolical conspiracy ever hatched.

I could have sworn I heard my old friend sighing and the steam rising from his ears.

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Dana Parsons’ column appears Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. Readers may reach Parsons by calling (714) 966-7821 or by writing to him at the Times Orange County Edition, 1375 Sunflower Ave., Costa Mesa, CA 92626, or by e-mail to dana.parsons@latimes.com