Los Angeles police and officials from several other government agencies on Wednesday raided a Sun Valley property that a hoarder turned into an unlicensed junkyard filled with rusting vehicles and hazardous waste.
The hoarder, David Ferrera, 50, was arrested Tuesday night by Los Angeles police on an outstanding warrant for suspicion of petty theft, according to police and arrest records. His bail was set at $155,000.
The six-acre parcel located on a fire road near La Tuna Canyon Road has been the subject of years of fruitless complaints from neighbors. But after The Times wrote about it earlier this month, authorities sprang into action.
Elena Malone, who lives next door and had contacted nearly a dozen agencies for help in recent years, said personnel from the Los Angeles Police Department, the Los Angeles Fire Department, the city Department of Building and Safety, the state Environmental Protection Agency and other agencies arrived Wednesday morning and searched the property.
Ferrera’s mother, Mary, owns the property and has said her son fell into mental illness and hoarding after a 2017 wildfire destroyed many of his belongings. She told The Times she paid to have 21 truckloads of trash removed, only to have her son refill the property with items he had collected.
City Councilwoman Monica Rodriguez said at a news conference Wednesday that the Fire Department had obtained a search warrant to inspect the property this week, with an eye toward declaring it a public nuisance. That, she said, would allow the city to take further action.
A Superior Court commissioner criticized the city’s failure to help residents earlier this year, calling the lack of response “mind-boggling.”
Rodriguez acknowledged Wednesday that his office has been aware of the issue since 2019. But he said progress has been thwarted by COVID, court delays, difficulty accessing property and other bureaucratic issues.
“There were many issues with this particular property, and we were aware of these issues as we sought a solution with the Department of Building and Safety,” Rodriguez said.
She also mentioned the imprisonment of Mary Ferrera earlier this year, which she said was too brief to be effective. The 80-year-old retired teacher was sentenced to 180 days in prison for failing to clean up the land, but was released after less than 24 hours.
Rodriguez described the presence of multiple agencies at the property Wednesday as an “all hands on deck” approach to “better assess what the circumstances are at that property.”
Malone said she was pleased with the government's response this week.
“Fifteen LAPD officers just drove up the driveway,” he said.
But after years of seeking help, she remains cautious: “In the end, the result can be very small.”
Mary Ferrera did not respond to a message seeking comment.
