Cops breach Sun Valley 'hoarder house'

Law enforcement officers and firefighters were seen Wednesday entering the property of a home with an out-of-control hoarding situation in Sun Valley.

SkyFOX was over the six-acre property off La Tuna Canyon Road just after 9 a.m., where several officers were seen traversing through the area, still littered with vehicles, batteries, and junk.

Neighbors say they've been complaining to local, state and even federal authorities about what they called a dangerous hoarding nightmare for years. 

On Monday, the city got a court order to enter the property. Police brought in explosive-sniffing dogs and fire teams. 

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Neighbors said the man who lives on the property is described as a mentally ill hoarder by his 80-year-old mother who owns the property, but does not live there. She was sentenced to 180 days in jail after repeated attempts by the Los Angeles City Attorney to get her to clean up the property, which she has tried to do, only to see her son fil it with stuff again. According to City Councilwoman Monica Rodriguez, the mother only served one day of her sentence. 

The man was taken into custody Tuesday on an unrelated misdemeanor warrants.  

Rodriguez acknowledges her office has known about the property since 2019. She blames the COVID pandemic and a mixup of who owns the property. 

According to a 2021 report from the Environmental Protection Agency, there are 114 vehicles, including some which may have been stolen, according to the California Highway Patrol, dismantled car batteries, leaking high-voltage power equipment and practice munitions that a disposal team from Camp Pendleton had to render safe. 

Fire officials have responded to repeated fires on the property, but can't get through the front entrance, which is blocked by vehicles.

"They're not willing to clear the property until the cars, over 109 cars on the property, are removed," said neighbor Elena Malone. "CHP has found five cars that are of interest, either stolen or involved in a robbery on the property. They will not remove the cars because it's dangerous for them to go on the property."

Tests on soil samples and a stream bed near the property revealed high levels of arsenic, lead, cobalt and other substances that exceed federal safety standards. Because of those levels, the EPA has concluded that a cleanup would be complicated in the area, which is at high-risk for fires. 

"That property has caught fire four times in the last five years," said neighbor Scout Raskin. "Every time it catches fire, the fire department personnel cannot get the trucks back here."