My husband and I (both retired military) decided to leave our back-woods, gang infested, drug pushing neighborhood in NC to retire to a clean, safer environment where we could live out our lives in relative peace and safety. So we built a house in the Prescott, AZ area.
In December of 2008 we discovered that our licensed, (and vetted by the bank) building contractor was taking the money from our building loan and using it to buy property for himself and pay for a spec home he was building at the same time. Once discovered, he freely admitted the theft and then promptly disappeared, leaving our home only half built.
Subsequently, the sub-contractors that worked on our home were not given the monies disbursed by the bank to the building contractor. So these sub-contractors began serving us (the property owners) with liens and law suits even though their contracts were with the builder, not us, the owners. We paid, out of our own pockets, many of the sub-contractors who'd been cheated by the builder while still being on the hook for the entire amount of the building loan (including the funds stolen by the builder).
We bought a camper, shot-gunned out here to AZ and spent the next 3 months and nearly $163,000.00 of our retirement money to finish the home and make restitution for the funds stolen by our builder.
We took occupancy in February of '09 and since then it's been an ongoing procession of strangers walking up to our double-gated (to secure our pets) with a walled front court-yard leading to our front door to either serve us with legal papers or try to sell us something or convert us to their religion. So we put a small lock on the inner gate to keep people from being able to just walk into our court-yard and up to our front door.
Process servers came and went, throwing their papers on the ground at our gate and shouting out 'This is a legal serve', before walking away without another word or even any form of identification. One server actually entered our home (before we put the lock on the gate) and while I was alone, asleep in my bed with a migraine headache, stood in the doorway to my bedroom, threw down his paperwork, said 'This is legal serve' and then ran for his life when my Labrador puppy started to bark at him in my defense.
Here's where is gets ugly. On June 18th another stranger approached our home and entered the outer gate at about 0700 hrs while we were having our morning coffee in the Arizona room at the front of our home. He showed no identification, nor did he even bother to give us his name, only claiming that he was a process server. He asked us to identify ourselves and confirm that we did live in the home. We asked him to first identify himself. He did not. Instead, he threw a huge pile of papers on the ground inside the gate and stated 'This is a legal serve'.
THAT SHOULD HAVE BEEN THE END OF IT! UNFORTUNATELY, IT WAS ONLY THE BEGINNING OF THE NIGHTMARE!!!
My husband and I both replied by saying something to the effect of, 'Fine, you've done your job now please leave our property'. But the man refused saying he could not leave until we showed him some identification. Again, we politely asked the unidentified stranger to please leave our property. Again he refused and then began trying to force his way through the locked inner gate to our court-yard while insisting we had to show him some identification.
This went on for several minutes, this strange man trying to force his way into our personal living space while I politely asked him 4 more times to please leave our property or I would call the police. By now my three dogs(all abused rescues, 2 elderly and 1 puppy) had gotten upset and scared and of course they were barking at the man who was becoming increasingly more hostile as he continued to rattle at the inner gate in an attempt to gain access.
Both my husband and I and our dogs felt personally threatened to I retreated to my bedroom closet and removed my empty shotgun from it's case where it has been, unloaded and never fired since they day it was given to me as a wedding present. (Remember I said we lived in the back woods)
I stood in the doorway of our Arizona room and held the empty shotgun vertically against my shoulder, as one would hold a flag, never pointing it or wielding it in any menacing manner only to frighten the man, as he'd frightened us, away from our gate and to leave our property.
He saw the shotgun and retreated from the inner gate, through the outer gate and onto the driveway where he laughed in my face and said, 'I've got you now bitch, you're going to jail'. He also made some other comment about how he'd done the exact same thing the previous week to another person he'd served.
About 10 minutes later 2 Yavapai County Sheriffs arrived in our driveway in separate SUVs, entered the outer gate and insisted we open the inner gate and allow them access to our home. They too, never bothered to identify themselves. My husband, a West Point graduate, Ph.D and retired Army Lt. Col. asked why. The Sheriffs replied that they were conducting an 'investigation'. My husband asked what investigation and did they have a warrant?
Both Sheriffs responded by pulling out their tazer guns and demanding that we open the gate. Again, my husband asked why and did they have a warrant? At this point the Sheriff's conduct became hostile and abusive as one began shouting over and over again, 'Open the damn gate!. Open the damn gate!'.
The dogs started barking and my husband backed away from the tazer guns as I advanced toward the gate to protect my dogs and try to diffuse the situation. I calmed the dogs down and was standing at the inner gate when the second Sheriff put his tazer gun at point blank range to my chest and said he'd shoot me if I didn't open the gate. I replied that if he did shoot me at point blank range he'd likely cause me to have a heart attack. He kept the tazer pointed at my breasts and asked if I had a gun. I told him no, I did not have a gun, but I did own a shotgun that had never been loaded or fired.
Again both Sheriffs began to vehemently demand that I open the gate, threatening to tazer us if we did not comply immediately. I was still standing at the inner gate with the tazer at my chest when my husband who was near the door to the Arizona room stated that he needed to use the bathroom. (We'd been out for dinner the evening before, 'German night', which had left us physically ill from what we suspected might be a mild case of food poisoning and we'd both spent the better part of the night in the bathroom because of it).
The more obnoxious of the two Sheriffs insisted that my husband not move, again threatening to shoot him if he did. Faced with the choice of high voltage vs. defecation, my husband made a mad dash for the bathroom at which point the Sheriff not holding the tazer at my chest fired upon my husband, one dart hitting him in the shoulder blade and the other hitting one of our dogs who were beside my husband, trying to retreat from the commotion.
The conduct of these so called 'public servants' whose salaries are paid by our taxes had become so blatantly intimidating, threatening and hostile that I felt I had no choice but to allow them to enter my home even though they showed no ID, had no warrant or gave no just cause to enter the premises. In shock by the fact that my husband and one of my dogs had just been tazered in our own home I began to unlock the gate while the Sheriffs continued to shout threats at me.
From this point on my husband and I were kept separated by the two Sheriffs so that his experience and point of view differ from mine.
The moment the gate was opened I was grabbed, handcuffed and put into the back of one of the SUVs while the Sheriff who'd tazered my husband entered our home. I was still in my pajamas, with no shoes on my feet and at no time did I ever resist in any way, nor did I act in anything but a polite, cooperative manner. I told the Sheriff I was extremely claustrophobic (which has long been medically documented)and asked him politely to please not close the car door as the window was rolled up and the engine not running so there was no air conditioning inside the vehicle. The Sheriff said that if I hold him where the weapon was he'd leave the window open. I said it was inside my bedroom closet and before he left me in the SUV he rolled the window down about 3 inches, just enough for me to press my cheek against the glass and stick my nose out for some fresh air, like you'd see a dog doing while riding down the road.
A few minutes later the other Sheriff brought my husband out and placed him the the other SUV parked behind the one I was in. We did not speak to each other as he was escorted in handcuffs past me.
I sat quietly until 'my' Sheriff returned with my never loaded, never fired shotgun and placed it in the front seat of the vehicle. I saw that they'd left both gates wide open and my 11 year old Pocket Beagle was standing at the outer gate. I asked the Sheriff to please close the outer gate so that my dogs would not get out as they were new to the area and likely to get lost if released. He ignored me. I continued to plead with him to please close the outer gate so that my dogs would be safe. I kept repeating myself over and over again to please secure my pets as 'my' Sheriff returned to the house and allowed the unidentified 'process server' who'd been standing by all along enjoying the dramatics, to enter our home.
I shouted through the 3 inch crack in the window that I did not want that man in my house. The Sheriff shouted back that if I didn't shut up he would close the window and let me suffocate. I sat in the SUV and watched as the Sheriff allowed the process server to enter my home while still leaving the gates wide open. I assume my little 20lb Beagle as well as the other two dogs had gone off somewhere to hide as having been abused, they were obviously in shock and afraid.
I don't know exactly how much time passed but it was quite awhile before the Sheriffs and the process server left the house, mercifully closing the gate on their way out. When 'my' Sheriff returned to the SUV I realized that we would be taken into custody and I asked for my shoes and a drink of water. He ignored me. Then I asked for my wallet, saying how could I be booked, processed and make bail if I had no identification. The Sheriff told me I wouldn't need it. Finally, I asked if he would please return to the house and turn off 3 things that could likely start a fire, the coffee maker and a humidifier and spot light I use to grow orchids in my kitchen window. I said all he had to do was pull the two plugs under the kitchen window and switch the coffee maker off. He did grant me that one small request but still failed to turn the coffee maker off.
When he returned he opened the door and insisted I sit back in the plastic seat with my elbows in the grooves so that he could secure my seat-belt. I told him I couldn't do that with my hands behind my back because I have an old spinal cord injury sustained while serving in the military. I asked if he could 'cuff me in front' so that I could sit back in the plastic seat with my elbows in the groves. He said no and forced the seat-belt around my waist while I sat sideways with my face pressed against the window glass trying to keep my nose out the 3 inch crack for fresh air.
On our way to the station the Sheriff stopped in the street in front of our house and spoke at length with some woman I didn't recognize while I remained detained in the back trying to breath. At the time I didn't know where my husband was, couldn't see the other SUV and couldn't hear the conversation going on with the woman in the street. Later, my husband told me that he overheard her reporting to the Sheriffs about a suspicious man who'd been lurking around the neighborhood. My husband told me that the Sheriffs told her to file a formal complaint with the Sheriff's office.
Finally we began our long, slow ride downtown, my husband being taken an entirely different route than I after being told by his Sheriff that it was policy so as to avoid any neighbors following them. ????????? (You figure it out, I can't)
I was never questioned. Never even asked my name, which is different from my husband's, although my Sheriff did ask me what my husband's name was and his birth date. Nothing was explained to me and no receipt was ever issued for the property they confiscated, i.e. my shotgun. When we arrived at the Sheriffs Department in downtown Prescott I was escorted in my pajamas behind some desk where my Sheriff told an obese man sitting at a computer to 'watch me'.
More time passed as I sat quietly behind the counter listening while officers milled about and made jokes and told funny stories to the obese man at the computer 'watching me'.
Finally I was taken to a cell and left there, in my pajamas, without any explanation or comment. Officers walked by me continuously as I politely asked each one who passed if I could please have a drink of water. They ignored me. Eventually, one officer did acknowledge me by saying that he couldn't give me anything because he'd been informed that alcohol was involved. My tongue had swollen in my mouth but I managed to tell him that I was not under the influence of any alcohol or drugs and I would gladly submit to a B.A.C. or any other test if I could please just have a drink of water.
This man had some iota of compassion. He said he could clearly see that I was not under the influence of anything and would get me a drink of water. Many minutes later he returned with a small plastic cup of ice and water. When he opened the cell door I put my hands up so he would not feel threatened as he handed me the cup. It looked like it had been used to collect urine samples but at this point I was so dehydrated I didn't care so I drank it.
The clock on the wall outside my cell read 0800 hrs. but I knew that time couldn't be correct based on the events that had happened and the amount of time I'd been detained by the Sheriffs. I later confirmed my suspicions that it wasn't the correct time.
The stench inside the cell was horrific and I had to hold my t-shirt against my nose to keep from vomiting. The prisoner in the next cell kept flushing the toilet and after some time an officer approached the cell beside me and began to speak to the person inside. That's when I recognized my husband's voice. I waited for them to finish their conversation which was little more than the officer asking if my husband was wearing any jewelry. When the officer left I spoke quietly and asked if it was my husband. He acknowledged it was him, that he was still physically ill from the previous nights dinner and that he'd been left to sit in his own soiled clothes so he was trying to clean himself and his clothing in the cell toilet.
I asked him if the Sheriffs had allowed him to explain our side of the story and he told me no and that we were likely being videotaped. I told him I didn't care, that we hadn't done anything wrong and it was obvious they weren't going to listen to us, no matter what, so let's just keep our mouths shut and make bail.
At some point my husband (who had his cell phone when taken into custody) had an opportunity to call a friend and ask him to get us a lawyer. We later found out that when our friend arrived at the Sheriffs Department he was told that we were on our way to the Camp Verde jail. This was a blatant lie!
Possibly, because someone had come looking for us, we don't know why but suddenly an officer arrived at my husband's cell and said, "This is your lucky day, you're being released."
They let him out, then let me out and without another word escorted us to the back door of the station where we were dumped in the alley like so much garbage. My husband asked, how are we going to get home? The officer replied that he was simply a jailer and we were on our own.
While my husband called our friend to come pick us up, (that's how we'd learned he'd been misdirected regarding our transport to the Camp Verde jail)I walked the streets of downtown Prescott in my pajamas waiting for our friend to meet us on some street corner having already been turned away from the Sheriffs Department he was quite some distance from our location.
Our friend left his job to come to our rescue, he had other obligations so after he picked us up near the court-house he had business to attend to. Although he insisted he would take us 'all the way home', a considerable distance out of his way I was concerned for the health and welfare of my pets and the security of our property and could not wait for him to meet his business obligations before taking us home. Luckily my husband dresses first thing in the morning so he had his wallet and I insisted he call a cab so we could get home immediately as I wasn't certain what had happened to my dogs, especially after I saw one of them get tazered.
When we got home the gates and doors were unsecured and the dogs were nowhere to be found. I feared the one that had gotten tazered was dead and eventually we found them all hiding outside in the yard in the heat of the day. They refused to come back into the house. I believe they were all in shock, as my husband and I were, the puppy was terrified and couldn't be coaxed back inside. My 9 year of Jack Russell actually bit my hand when I tried to comfort her. The 11 year old Beagle was hiding under our camper and wouldn't come out.
We started making calls. One of which was to file a formal complaint with the Sheriffs department who said the commander was on vacation and they would send someone out. That afternoon a representative showed up at our house and took our statements via voice recorder. Although my husband may disagree, in my opinion this officer's attitude seemed completely apathetic, almost disgusted that he had to be bothered by having to deal with us.
My husband and I gave our statements separately. While giving his statement the Sheriff's representative got a 'heads up' phone call informing him that we'd contacted the local media. My husband overheard the conversation. By that evening's news time the Yavapai County Sheriffs Department had already issued a press release that scared off channels 12 and 5.
Channel 3 showed up and taped for nearly 90 minutes only 2 of which were actually aired. The news 'teasers' showed us sympathetically. The actual story was less than flattering for us and included a brief statement from the Sheriffs public relations officer who said charges of aggravated assault and resisting arrest where still pending. There was no mention made of the violation of our civil rights under the 2nd, 4th and 6th amendments.
At first I was terrified to stay in our own home wondering if and when the Sheriffs would show up again to take us away in reprisal. My husband explained to our attorney that this incident had effected me more traumatically as I'd grown up listening to my parents talk about how the Nazis came and took everything away from them. My father, grandmother and several uncles (who died there) spent years in a concentration camp. I was told by my attorney not to mention this fact as it could be used against me.
For the first two days I was afraid to go anywhere near the front of our house, open any doors or windows and stayed locked in my bedroom except to see a doctor at the behest of our attorney. I was treated for shock and trauma. I just wanted to pack our things and move back to NC, after all, how can you fight the police and win? Either way it's a losing battle even if you are a decent, tax paying citizen with no criminal record. I started to pack up my personal property, only those few things that had any value or sentiment, intended to put the dogs in the camper and just leave Prescott and this nightmare behind. Until I was informed that the county could hold these (absurd) charges over our heads for 180 days, so if we left, we'd be fleeing the jurisdiction.
Yet the man who started all this, our licensed, vetted building contractor has moved on to another AZ location and is working today, with impunity, having devastated us financially, emotionally and now, physically. Yet no one will prosecute him, either criminally or civilly even after we spent thousands of dollars on attorneys who said they could get us some justice.
It seems justice and the judicial system have nothing in common whatsoever.
Amazingly, the Sheriff who tazered my husband knew him and our situation. This Sheriff had been aware and somewhat directly involved in our efforts to bring this corrupt builder to justice. In the SUV, on the way downtown, he tried to get my husband to incriminate himself by feigning sympathy with his comment that he too had been foreclosed on and understood our stress.
FACT: We are not anywhere near foreclosure. We have and will continue to pay our debts as we always have to the detriment of our retirement savings and despite the theft of our building funds and the refusal of our bank to assume any fiduciary responsibility for just handing our money over to a crook whom they approved prior to the building process.
FACT: We were defending ourselves and our property against an unlawful intrusion by an unidentified stranger and at no time did any physical contact take place between us and this 'process server'.
FACT: We opened the gate under extreme duress and after the Sheriffs entered our property we gave no resistance whatsoever.
FACT: We were denied our civil rights, treated as criminals in our own home and subjected to abuse under the guise of 'an investigation'
So, I've spent a lot of time writing this down. I've said my piece and who knows where it will get me. Let's see who's a stand up guy in this town. Let's see if Yavapai County Sheriffs will take responsibility for their actions or use this 'freedom of speech' to persecute us even more. Let's see if another attorney will take our money with the promise of justice and leave us with nothing but a smaller bank balance than we started with. Let's see if my husband and I will end up in jail under 'trumped up' charges just so a few power hungry men can cover their butts and get a good laugh doing it. Let's see.

If what you relate is true, your civil rights were surely and severely infringed. If I were you I would file a complaint with the American Civil Liberties Union in Arizona and see if they would be interested in taking action on your behalf on a pro bono (free) basis. I visited Prescott, Arizona in the mid 1990's and was impressed with the area. However, I had no contact with law enforcement so I cannot comment on their professionalism or lack thereof. I am sorry about your bad experience with a contractor. I had a similar experience and ended up spending $40,000 on a house that wasn't completed when he disappeared leaving a wake of creditors in his departure. Trusting the wrong people to do the right thing isn't a sin. All of us at times are victims of circumstances and that describes your all around situation. Good Luck and please try to let us know what is transpiring. There are at least a few people here in the forum who care about injustice and wrongdoing.