Vandals Caught on Camera at Val Vista Home

What was supposed to be a morning of birthday celebrations for the 10-year-old daughter of Rodney and Trina Lopez turned into frustration after the family found their Val Vista home had been vandalized. 

The Lopez family woke up Sunday and found both of their cars covered in raw eggs. Toilet paper was strewn across the front yard and trees and a portable toilet on the property for construction work had been knocked over.

They even have a video to prove it. A security camera clip provided to Pleasanton Patch shows three individuals in hooded jackets on the family's toilet-papered property at 2:15 a.m. Sunday morning.

The family believes they are being targeted over a building project, an addition to the home that several of their neighbors sought to have denied by the city.

This was not the first incident of vandalism they have experienced.  On Jan. 17 the Lopez home was littered with toilet paper.  "F-U" was spelled out with toilet paper on their car.

On March 1 and April 23, Rodney Lopez called the to report that rocks were being thrown at his house by neighborhood kids.

The Lopez family bought their single-story home on the 6000 block of Homer Court 12 years ago.  They moved into the Val Vista community because of the great schools and the family-oriented neighborhood. 

They said in an interview with Patch that they had developed friendships over the years with neighbors on their cul-de-sac and had never had problems before June of 2010 when they put in a proposal to add a second story to their home.

Since then, tensions have risen between a few neighbors and the Lopez family. 

Three neighborhood families rallied to keep the second-story addition from happening.  The families were concerned that the addition would infringe on the privacy of their back yards, block out sunlight, and decrease the value of their properties. All of the homes in the neighborhood are one story; they argued that a two-story home was wildly out of character for the area.

The Lopez family says they offered concessions that addressed the neighbors' concerns, offering to plant trees to block their view of the back yards from the projected second-story windows.  In addition, Rodney Lopez said he offered to purchase and install a skylight in one neighbor's home to help bring in more sunlight. 

Neighbors said they tried to be reasonable — they said they would support the Lopezes' addition if they were willing to decrease its size.

The fight over the Lopezes' construction plans went as far as the City Council, where on January 18, 2011, both supporters and opponents of the project spoke at a public hearing.

In a 3-2 vote, the Lopez family was granted approval to proceed with the addition onto their home.  (Click here to see the City Council Report.)

Neighbor Roxana Hoehne, one of the three neighbors opposed to the project, said Monday that she and the other families were willing to mediate. But it didn't seem the Lopezes wanted to budge at all, she said.

According to Rodney and Trina Lopez, they did go to mediation — twice.

The neighbors, they say, have not taken the city's approval of the project gracefully.

"We've been verbally assaulted, had rocks thrown at our house, and we've been threatened.  The neighbors blare their music toward our house at all hours.  One neighbor even bought a blow horn and randomly blows it in the middle of the night," Rodney Lopez said.

Hoehne said it certainly wasn't her or her husband doing the recent vandalizing — they were at her mother's funeral this past weekend.

"Everyone was trying hard to get along and work this out," said Hoehne, who has lived in her home for 42 years.

"We just wanted them to make it a little smaller. But these are good families," she said, referring to the neighbors who had asked the City Council to deny the project.

"They're good people doing the best they can, taking care of their houses."

But in one home video caught on the Lopez's security camera, a neighbor verbally attacks Rodney on April 15 and threatens him. Patch is not identifying this neighbor because he couldn't be reached for comment.

"We're going to have (expletive) problems!  You've got (expletive) coming your way," the neighbor can be heard saying.

Trina Lopez has also encountered such hostility.  She recalled an incident in which one woman who objected to the project made negative comments to her daughter while they were at .

"It's one thing to call me names and threaten me," she said. "I'm a grown-up.  I can handle it.  But to involve my daughter in the hostility is inexcusable."

The Lopez family is unsure of the identities of the vandals in the video, but they suspect teenagers may be responsible. The individuals in the video appear to be teen males.

"We would like all neighbors and their family members, to live up to the Pleasanton Community of Character traits; Responsibility, Compassion, Self-discipline, Honesty, Respect, and Integrity, just as we have demonstrated throughout this ordeal.   We want to 'peacefully coexist', as suggested by one of our neighbors, even though they have not made an attempt to live up to their own words," said Rodney Lopez.

The Pleasanton Police Department did not respond to Patch's inquiries about the vandalism before deadline.

The Lopez family is offering a $1,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the individuals in the video.  Anyone with information can contact the  at 925-931-5100.

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