5 Arrested After Mtn. View Landlord Devises Home Invasion: MVPD

Editor's note: One person's name was removed from this report because his or her charges were dismissed.

MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA — In an attempted scheme to oust renters from a Rock Street apartment, a landlord staged a home invasion Monday night that resulted in the arrest of five people, the Mountain View Police Department reported.

Police responded to a 8:15 p.m. call of an in-progress residential burglary on the 2000 block of Rock Street. Officers quickly arrived on scene and spotted five people in the front yard of the residence. All five people were immediately detained.

The victims, which are a husband, wife and two children, had escaped the home during the incident and fled through a back door. The family was located safely on Rengstorff Avenue.

As officers began to investigate the incident, they learned that the landlord identified as 50-year-old Sunnyvale resident [Name Removed] had leased the place to the victims but had become frustrated when the family was late paying the rent, according to the police report.

In an effort to remove the family from the residence, [Name Removed] allegedly contacted friends earlier in the day to head to Rock Street that evening to help physically remove the victims, police said. Shortly after arriving at the home that evening, the family inside refused to leave, so someone in the group shut the power off to the residence. The report adds that one of the people involved in the scheme, Steven Carling, 53, of San Jose, tried to use a knife to break open the door. The intrusion nearly encroached on one of the occupants, who was attempting to hold the door closed.

"This was a deliberate attempt using scare tactics to evict a family from a home," Lt. Armando Espitia said. "There are civil procedures and remedies that landlords and tenants can pursue with regard to late rent payments, but unfortunately these individuals took extremely dangerous and unlawful steps that resulted in their arrest."

[Name Removed] was taken into custody on suspicion of attempted robbery, burglary of an inhabited dwelling, conspiracy to commit a crime and unlawfully shutting off power to a home. Carling was arrested for attempted robbery, burglary of an inhabited dwelling, assault with a deadly weapon and conspiracy to commit a crime.

Three other San Jose individuals who were allegedly a part of the scheme were identified as 49-year-old Lori Walston; 49-year-old Brian Ross; and 52-year-old Debra McNeil. They were also taken into custody and accused of attempted robbery, burglary of an inhabited dwelling and conspiracy to commit a crime.