Rodman Gets a Reprieve on ‘Club 4809’

After more than 40 house calls from police and $2,200 in fines for disturbing the peace in Newport Beach, ex-Laker Dennis Rodman has been decreed safe for now from prosecution.

After reviewing reports of 36 incidents over the last year, the Orange County district attorney’s office said Wednesday that there was not enough evidence to convict Rodman of disturbing the peace in his beachfront Newport neighborhood.

Although some parties have certainly gotten wild at “Club 4809,” the neighbors’ term for Rodman’s house, prosecutors say witnesses were either anonymous or uncooperative. Police say that the witnesses fear retribution from Rodman, whose local entourage, police say, includes ex-convicts who serve as bodyguards and doormen.

However, police say they are going to work with the district attorney’s office and Rodman’s neighborhood until they find a way to coax Rodman and company to calm down. Newport Police Sgt. Mike McDermott said that the fines for disturbing the peace are shrugged off by the wealthy former sports star.

“He basically told us that the fines are nothing,” McDermott said.

The parties occur monthly, McDermott said, sparking calls from neighbors who are upset at loud music blaring from 3-foot-high speakers at 3 a.m.

Neither Rodman nor his lawyer could be reached for comment.

Other neighbors, however, say Rodman is not a nuisance and is being targeted because of his notoriety.

“I like the way he is with the kids, he’s good to his neighbors,” said Rosalie McElroy, 77, who lives across the street. “To be honest, I don’t care if he does have earrings or a tattoo, I think he’s a very nice person.

“They just arrest him for who he is and what he looks like,” she said. “[Neighbors] don’t call the police about everybody who has a party.”

Rodman moved to the neighborhood in July 1998, McDermott said. Since then, he said, police have been called to the property more than 40 times. Not all of the calls were noise complaints, he said. Many residents complain of Rodman’s drunk guests fighting outside or parking their cars behind homeowners’ garages.

Rodman has been jailed twice recently in the Orange County area, once in August 1998 on public drunkenness charges, which were dropped. In December 1998, he was cited for drunk driving and released after he posted a $2,500 bond.

In fact, Rodman told Newport Beach officers that he decided to take his party elsewhere for the Fourth of July weekend. McDermott said he went to Los Angeles.