Van Nuys woman searching for answers as homeless man continues to take over her front porch
A Van Nuys woman is at wit's end with a homeless man that continues to find his way back to her front porch, taking over it as if it was his own.
"I'm calling the police on you," Thompson can be heard shouting after the man in a video recorded by her doorbell camera.
Even though she's called police several times, Shacola Thompson is worried that man will just keep coming back. So far she's caught him sitting on her furniture, smoking and sleeping on her porch - even leaving a graffiti tag outside of her front door.
"I was really bothered by the fact that someone had the nerve, and be that bold, to sit there and go to sleep on someone else's property," Thompson said.
Her doorbell camera has caught the man making himself at home on many occasions over the past month, counting at least 10 visits thus far.
"I do not know why he chose my patio," she said.
On Thursday, her camera alerted her that he was on her porch a little before sunrise, prompting her to call police once again. They told him to leave, but he returned hours later, resulting in another call to authorities.
When officers dispatched to the residence asked him if he lived there, he told them he did, but since he couldn't show them a key they forced him to move along.
"If we get another call here again today you're gonna go to jail alright," one of the officers can be heard telling the man as he walked away from Thompson's porch.
As she continues to worry about her safety, she hopes that some sort of changes can be made in her neighborhood.
"I wanna see this area get cleaned up," Thompson said. "There's a lot of homeless people, or people with mental disabilities, that's just kinda hanging around this area. I want the police to really take action."
Even though she technically lives alone, she doesn't feel that way anymore.
"When I go outside and I sit there and have my tea or drink my coffee, I shouldn't have to worry about somebody coming around the corner, can they potentially hurt me?" Thompson said.
She's calling on her homeowner's association to issue an alert to all of the people living in the complex in the case that someone can identify him, or if he's been loitering on their property as well.
LAPD was unavailable for comment on the situation.
