Neighbors From Hell | 20/20 | ABC News

good evening it's the story that is still going on this week even tonight as residents of one Florida town are afraid to go to sleep in their beds for fear a new sinkhole could swallow them up we'll have more details on that tragic story later but first a different kind of worry that's right Elizabeth what if it doesn't lie underneath your home waiting and hiding instead it lives right next door or down the block the neighbors from hell Matt Gutman went on the trail of people you may not want living next to your home sweet home the saying goes that good fences make good neighbors but how do you build a fence high enough to Shield you from this kind of behavior as seen in this local news piece have you had in your house kids okay uh-huh it's a big one yeah Nut Job Kathy hesterberg says her family had been living peacefully in this suburb outside St Louis for 30 years that was until last fall when a SWAT team descended on her next door neighbor's home suspecting drugs we've heard this loud boom where there was SWAT officers police officers coming out from between the houses the man they were looking for 48-year-old Greg Jennings an avid Hunter and the owner of a local tree trimming business so let me get this straight he blames you well he actually put the blame on my mom Kathy says Jennings accused her mother of tipping off police he said that she tipped off a police officer that lives down the block starting that day she says he became belligerent and bizarre this is what he made a noose in her front yard the hell is he doing he started burning fires in the backyard the smoke was just awful you couldn't breathe deer carcass is beside the driveway and in the trash cans you never knew what you were going to come home to but that's okay they're both working so she installed security cameras to document the antics we made it a point night after night after night to prance around out there right on the property line each night his behavior got more erratic the cameras are out in plain sight you'd figure they might serve as a deterrent but not for Greg Jennings according to Kathy that's him in the dead of night strolling the grounds in his underwear and here that's right he's wearing a box on his head so what should you do if you have a nasty neighbor don't show the pains calling the police all the time uh they're getting the reaction that they want they're going to keep doing it and what do you do if not even the police can help you Kathy says she called them dozens of times if we don't have a specific law violation we can't do anything other than try and mediate between the two parties it's a fine line between being a neighborly nuisance lining up in handcuffs Jenny seems to know exactly how to navigate that gray area the limits of the law don't help you know victims it covers bullies would you say He's a Bully oh yeah and that can hurt says shark Tank's Barbara Corcoran and she knows real estate the problem with a nasty neighbor is not only that you've had to live with them for four or five years but when you want to get rid of them and have to sell your home you have to disclose it and so the damage to your home is enormous but since all that media attention you're being a punk right now you're being a punk Kathy tells us she and Jennings were working towards a truce so we figured we'd ask Greg Jennings his side of the story and we left a letter and waited all day for him hello it took a few attempts your neighbors say you've been tormenting them but I want to hear your side of the story sir before he finally sort of responded Mr Jennings I just I will absolutely leave your property but I'm sure it turns out he didn't like company on his side of the fence safely leave my property right yeah okay okay we left the property but he called the police anyway ironically it turns out he had just been slapped with felony drug charges but a thousand miles away in Sunny Miami there was another landscaper allegedly making his neighbor's lives a bed of thorns what's amazing is that this is your house and that's his house right across the street that's good right that's good right Francisco Torres says his Feud with this man Mitchell egalco started two years ago Torres had fired at Galco as his landscaper big mistake so Torah says he installed a 70 thousand dollar security system he even quit his job to monitor it full time hoping to catch a Gelco red-handed witness what he says is the ultimate landscaper's Revenge lawn aside launching gelco's white truck driving by torres's lawn a mystery liquid squirts out the window Taurus says the grass died suddenly and never came back because there is so much poison that has been going through that there is no way any grass will grow exhibit B A galco's dogs roaming on Taurus's property followed by a frat house classic and goco allegedly throwing eggs at his house then things got downright medieval Torres says these are nails catapulted from migelco's truck onto his driveway he hurled rocks Torres is also suspicious of another incident where two different men smashed his car windows although a Gelco has not been implicated after calling police 40 times that year Torres finally got a restraining order a Gelco was arrested for criminal mischief and stalking and is currently awaiting trial so we decided to try and ask a Gelco himself why he has such hostility for his neighbors hi Mr agalco how are you my name is Matt Gutman I'm from ABC news but I have just a couple of questions your neighbors say that you've been terrorizing them I wonder if you have any answers for them you're backing out we just have a couple of questions for you sir you're not interested egalco's Laura has said his client was also a victim in this neighborhood Feud so what is the best recourse for a community Under Siege by one of its own when you get to that point where you've tried reasoning with someone you've tried being friendly you've done everything if you need to Fight Fire with Fire and you can do it in a socially responsible lawful manner I say go for it for this South Florida Community peace may only come after they've had their day in court

Channel: ABC News

Views: 22,276,919

Keywords: florida, housing, market, feuding, neighbors, harrass, eggs, rocks, fire, 2020, abc, abcnews, David Muir (Award Winner), ABC, ABC News, ABCNews, 20/20, Bad Neighbors, crime, crime news, investigation, criminal mastermind

Id: RCkNCOA5u-g

Length: 6min 55sec (415 seconds)

Published: Fri Mar 08 2013

Reddit Comments

[u/liarandathief]

I like my neighbors at least a stone's throw away.

[u/slapnoodle]

How does one afford a $70k security system and is able to quit their job to monitor it full time?

[u/ENTirely]

"thought i'd come in disguise this time"

In a box

AHAHAH my sides

[u/etotheapplepi]

That is some Solid Snake shit right there.

[u/[deleted]]

he's got a mental illness clearly