HUNTINGTON BEACH

A Cal State Long Beach professor convicted of 69 code violations last year for allowing her Huntington Harbour home to fall into disrepair pleaded no contest Tuesday to a charge of accumulating outside trash. Elena Zagustin, who has feuded with neighbors for more than a dozen years over conditions at her home in an upscale neighborhood, had been charged with nine counts of outdoor violations. She entered her plea to the one charge as jury selection was set to begin in a Westminster courtroom, said Jennifer McGrath, a deputy city attorney in Huntington Beach.

Zagustin will be sentenced Aug. 3 by Superior Court Judge Michael Beecher. She faces up to six months in jail and a $500 fine, McGrath said. The outdoor violation charges pre-date the charges on which she was convicted. She had reached a negotiated agreement in September 1997 on the nine charges, by agreeing to bring the home into compliance within 30 days, pay restitution of $200 and keep the home clear of debris for 12 months, but then appealed the case. That appeal was recently denied, allowing the city to move forward.

Zagustin is on probation for three years in the case involving health, safety and building code violations. A marshal’s sale of the home is scheduled for July 14 to pay off nearly $300,000 in judgments won by neighbors.