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Man With 28 Restraining Orders Arrested (Again) For Stalking His Neighbors
A Huntington Beach man was arrested last Thursday on suspicion of stalking, harassing and generally annoying the hell out of his neighbors—and it's not the first time.Over the last few years, at least 28 neighbors of John Patrick Rogers, 48, have taken out restraining orders against him for harassment. But this time, Rogers' behavior has allegedly risen to the level of a felony. Rogers was arrested last week and is facing five felony counts of stalking and electronic eavesdropping. He is also facing multiple misdemeanor counts for contempt of court order violations, according to the Los Angeles Times.
The Orange County Register did a piece on the Rogers a few years ago, describing his escalating legal troubles. Rogers has autism, although he is high-functioning. He also suffers from post-traumatic stress syndrome ever dating back to when a roommate stabbed him in the neck over a decade ago.
Back in 2010, 28 of his neighbors took out restraining orders against him, since police said most of his behavior wasn't technically illegal:
Residents said he would sue his neighbors and then never show up in court, set his car alarm off in the middle of the night, and flash high-powered lights into neighbors' windows for extended periods of times.
"His (modus operandi) is he will do something until the Huntington Beach police said, 'Stop this,'" (Lee) Gragnano said.
Over a year later, he was arrested for recording videos of his neighbors, posting nasty messages about them on Twitter and violating the restraining orders they took out against him.Police said they have tried to work with him to ensure that Rogers was receiving the social services that he needs. However, it sounds like after two years, things have only worsened—although police wouldn't tell the Times too much about the allegations against him this time.
Lt. Mitch O'Brien told the Times, "It's numerous cases, and I don't have specifics on the actual cases."
Rogers is being held on $1 million bail and pleaded not guilty this week to all the charges.
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