My Neighbor Called Cps Because My Kids Played Outside. She’s The One Who Got Arrested Instead.

I spent the next hour and 10 minutes sitting at my kitchen table with the first officer. He had a notebook and was writing down everything I said. I told him the whole story from the beginning starting with when Diane first moved in.

I told him about all the complaints and the CPS calls and the HOA meeting. I showed him the video I just recorded of Diane in my backyard. Then I pulled up the photos I had of the note she left on my door.

The officer asked if I had any other documentation and I said,

“Yes.”

I went to my desk and got the folder where I kept everything. I had printouts of the CPS case workers reports that showed all of Diane’s calls. I had the emails from Rich about her complaints.

I had photos of my kids just playing normally that showed there was nothing wrong. The officer looked through all of it and kept making notes. He said this was clearly a pattern of harassment.

He said combined with her behavior tonight and her refusal to follow police orders Diane would be facing multiple charges. He said I should expect to be contacted by the district attorney’s office about pressing charges. I asked what would happen to her and he said,

“That depended on a lot of things but at minimum she would have to go to court.”

He said her refusal to comply with police orders made things much worse for her. He finished writing his notes and gave me a case number. He said to call if Diane tried to contact me or come near my property again.

After he left I checked on my kids. They were in the living room watching TV but not really paying attention. I sat down between them and told them everything was okay now.

My daughter asked,

“If the bad lady was going to come back.”

I said,

“No the police took her away and she wouldn’t be bothering us anymore.”

My phone rang around 8 that evening while I was cleaning up from dinner. It was Rich. He said he heard about what happened from Sebastian and wanted to know if we were okay.

I told him we were fine and explained everything that happened with Diane in the backyard and the arrest. Rich said he couldn’t believe she actually got herself arrested. I said I had it all on video if he needed it.

He said he definitely wanted a copy because his attorney was going to love this. He said he had already called his lawyer after he heard and they talked about the situation. His lawyer told him that since Diane committed a crime on the rental property they had grounds for immediate eviction instead of waiting out the 30-day notice.

I asked how fast immediate meant and Rich said,

“His lawyer was drafting new paperwork tonight.”

He said they could require her to be out in 7 days instead of 30 because of the criminal activity. I felt this huge wave of relief wash over me. Rich said his lawyer would have the papers ready by morning and he would serve them himself to make sure it was done right.

He said to expect Diane to lose it when she got the notice but not to engage with her at all. He said to call the police immediately if she came near my property or tried to contact me. I thanked him about a hundred times and he said this was long overdue.

The next morning I was making breakfast when I saw Rich’s truck pull up in front of Diane’s house. It was around 9:30. I moved to the living room window where I could see better.

Rich got out holding a manila envelope and walked up to Diane’s front door. He knocked and waited. After about a minute Diane opened the door.

She was still in her bathrobe. Rich held out the envelope and said something I couldn’t hear from my house. Diane took the envelope and opened it right there on her doorstep.

I watched her pull out the papers and start reading. Her whole face changed as she read. She looked up at Rich and her mouth was moving fast.

She looked angry and upset at the same time. She held up the papers and shook them at Rich. He just stood there calm with his hands in his pockets.

Diane threw the papers on the ground right in front of him. She said something else and pointed at my house. Rich bent down and picked up the papers.

He took out his phone and took a picture of the papers on the ground. Then he took a picture of Diane standing there. She screamed something at him and went back inside and slammed the door.

Rich walked back to his truck and sat in the driver’s seat for a minute doing something on his phone. Then he drove away. I texted him asking if he was okay and he said,

“Yeah.”

She reacted exactly how he expected. He said he got photos of her throwing the notice on the ground which his lawyer said was good evidence of her refusing to comply with the eviction. Two days later I was at work when my phone rang with a number I didn’t recognize.

I almost didn’t answer but something made me pick up. It was the CPS case worker. She said she wanted to let me know that she was officially closing my case.

I felt my whole body relax when she said that. She said she was putting a notation in the file that all the reports were malicious harassment by a neighbor who has since been arrested. She said this documentation would prevent anyone from taking future calls from Diane seriously if she tried to call again.

She apologized for everything my family had to go through. She said she could tell from the first visit that the reports were false but she still had to investigate each one. I told her I understood and I appreciated her documenting everything.

She said she wished more cases were this clear-cut. She said usually it’s hard to prove harassment but with Diane’s arrest and all the other evidence this was obvious. I thanked her and hung up feeling lighter than I had in months.

That evening I told my kids that the lady from CPS called and said we passed all her checks. My son asked if that meant no one would come check on us anymore. I said,

“That was exactly what it meant.”

My daughter asked if we could play outside without worrying and I said,

“Yes we could play outside whenever we wanted.”

7 days after Rich served the new eviction notice I woke up to the sound of a truck engine. I looked out my bedroom window and saw a moving truck backing into Diane’s driveway. It was 6:30 in the morning.

I got dressed and made coffee and kept watching from different windows. Around 7 two guys got out of the truck and went to Diane’s front door. She let them in and I could hear her voice from inside my house even with the windows closed.

She was yelling at them about something. The guys came back out carrying boxes and furniture. Every time they came out Diane was right behind them telling them to be careful.