Article and Video Courtesy of
WFTV Channel 9 -- ABC
ORLANDO -- Daytona Beach
Published June 21, 2009
PALM BAY, Fla. -- Sometimes neighbors just aren't neighborly. Palm Bay homeowners called Eyewitness News after, they say, their HOA president vandalized their cars. They say he did it as a form of retaliation; they are the same homeowners trying to kick the HOA president out of office.
A group of homeowners have raised all sorts of questions, ranging from the costs of some new bougainvillea to the cost of lawn care at Oakwood Villas (see map). They decided to try to recall the homeowner’s association president and that's when things started to get ugly.
Joyce Lopez came out of her home Friday morning to find her car covered in eggs and shaving cream. She's convinced it wasn't child’s play.
“There were two cars here and my car was the only one,” she said.
Lopez suspects she was specifically targeted because she is one of a small group of people petitioning to recall the president of the Oakwood Villas Homeowner’s Association, Ed Socha. Four of the six people listed on the petition have all had their cars vandalized.
"I live alone and I don't know what’s next. I may come out and somebody may knock me down, too. I'm scared,” Lopez said.
They believe the association's half-million dollar budget is being mismanaged. They have also raised concerns about what they consider racist emails, filled with slurs, distributed by the president.
Eyewitness News tried to contact Socha, but he was no where to be found.
One other homeowner sent pictures of his car covered in a gray substance after he raised questions at an association meeting. When he confronted the property managers, they said it had to be a bird, but he says no other car was touched.
Police have taken vandalism reports. Whether they can tie them to anyone remains to be seen.
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