Longtime Grover Beach resident and court reporter Elizabeth Doukas is competing with incumbent Mayor Jeff Lee in this year’s November election, but the candidate is also facing a battle in SLO County Superior Court, where she’s fighting three criminal misdemeanor charges in incidents that appear to be related to a years-long dispute with her neighbors.
On April 17, District Attorney Dan Dow filed three misdemeanor charges against Doukas—one count of public nuisance and two counts of disturbing the peace by loud noise—in a January incident in which Dow claims Doukas “did willfully, unlawfully, and maliciously disturb another person, to wit, H.L. by loud and unreasonable noise.”
Although Assistant District Attorney Eric Dobroth declined to comment further on the case, court records going back to 2015 and dozens of calls for service to the Grover Beach Police Department from the past two years suggest the charges are related to an ongoing dispute between Doukas and her neighbors Holly and Cinnamon Lindroth.
The Lindroths and Doukas have been in an all-out battle since at least July 2015, when the Lindroths applied for a civil harassment restraining order against Doukas, claiming that Doukas was obsessed with what she alleges are various code violations on the Lindroths’ property. According to the restraining order application filed by Holly, Doukas took issue with a number of the property’s attributes—the color of the house was too “glaring,” the outdoor porch light prevented her from seeing the stars—but was at the time mainly concerned with an outdoor staircase leading to the Lindroths’ top floor.
When the Lindroths informed Doukas that they weren’t aware the structure was illegal and didn’t have the money to enclose the staircase as Doukas requested, they claim Doukas became aggressive, repeatedly threatening to sue them, yelling over the fence at them, and taking photos of them in their yard.
The Lindroths provided the court with an August 2012 letter written to Doukas by former Grover Beach City Attorney Martin Koczanowicz, who said that while there was unpermitted work being done on the stairs in 2011, the owner stopped and obtained a permit before continuing. Koczanowicz forwarded the same letter to Doukas again in 2015, reiterating that the stairs and other features of the property do not violate Grover Beach’s codes.
“The city is not aware of any current code violations on the property,” he wrote, “as the areas of your concerns are not a violation of the code.”
A judge denied the Lindroths’ 2015 request for a restraining order and ordered Holly to reimburse Doukas’ $435 filing fees. The judge also denied Doukas’ request for reimbursement of thousands of dollars worth of attorney’s fees.
“In short, although [Lindroth] failed to meet her burden of proof by clear and convincing evidence,” the judge wrote in October 2015, “[Doukas] certainly contributed to the situation.”
The dispute between Doukas and her neighbors continued. Since 2018, the Grover Beach Police Department has responded to more than 20 calls for service related to the dispute between Doukas and the Lindroths, with both parties claiming the other is the aggressor.
In January of this year, Doukas called the Grover Beach Police and claimed a neighbor assaulted her and destroyed her fence line, according to documents provided to New Times by the Grover Beach Police Department. Several days later, Grover Beach Police received multiple calls from the Lindroths about a loud chirping sound coming from Doukas’ house at all hours of the night.
According to police records from Jan. 28, police made contact with Doukas, and she informed them that she had recently installed a security device that chirps every time it senses movement in her yard. Police allegedly advised her of the noise concerns, but officers continued to receive reports of chirping sounds until Feb. 8.
Although Doukas mostly declined to comment on the case, she said the misdemeanor charges are all related to a “malfunctioning” security camera she put in her yard for her own safety while replacing a fence for a few days. The chirping should amount to an infraction at best, she said, and she questioned the true reasons for such charges.
“It is simply political persecution of a candidate seeking reform,” she wrote in a text to New Times.
Matt Hanley, Doukas’ attorney, wouldn’t comment on what he called the irrelevant civil dispute between Doukas and her neighbors. But he confirmed that the three criminal charges she’s currently facing are all related to the chirping sounds alleged to have come from her property and that those charges are extreme.
“I think it’s unfortunate that this is what it’s come to,” Hanley told New Times.
Doukas, he said, pleaded not guilty to all three charges.
“I do feel as though the charges are unsubstantiated,” he said. “We are really looking forward to having our day in court.” Δ
This article appears in Oct 29 – Nov 8, 2020.
Political hit job much? I lived across the street from real terrorists for 31/2 years. You know what the GBPD told us? “The peaceful enjoyment of our property is not a law. Move if you don’t like it” so it looks like they finally got this lady who stood up to Jeff Lee. The police obviously used those 2 drugged out weirdos who live behind her to set her up. The house behind hers is illegal flat out and she has every right to code enforcement unless of course you’re one of us disenfranchised by the jokes who run the dump of the 5 cities. Good old Grover. Swampier than ever. VOTE DOUKAS!!!
I also have a complaint filed against her for failing to provide a court transcript I ordered from her in 2016. While I’ve waited four years for it, Doukas made libelous statements about me and my testimony. Class act.
You probably didn’t pay for it Aaron. Let’s see your “complaint” didn’t you say she “but dialed” you, too? Sure buddy.
Here are my phone records showing Doukas called me on January 8 at 11:18 a.m. and proof of my complaint with the State Court Reporters Board: https://imgur.com/a/4FvoakW
Really? That isn’t a phone bill and they must have told you where to stick your complaint because she works every day. I, like this judge, find your behavior “troubling”
https://calcoasttimes.com/2017/08/24/judge-crandall-aaron-ochs-conduct-troubling/
Liz,
Instead of being told where to “stick” my complaint, I received the following from the Enforcement Division in January this year: “We are troubled by Mrs. Doukas’ unprofessional and improper conduct. You’ve provided evidence that Mrs. Doukas did not properly comply with your transcript order request and made inappropriate remarks about you. Mrs. Doukas should’ve refrained from making personal statements about a deposition witness.”
How can you run for mayor and be taken seriously when you hide behind a fake account to personally attack private citizens, harass your neighbors and call them “terrorists,” mishandle court records that you personally transcribed, and libeling someone you just reported for a deposition? If all you have to say for yourself is sharing a false news article about me from a widely discredited website that personally employed you, I think you should drop from the race and reconsider your profession.
It’s quite telling when you have less integrity than your political opponent and incumbent who was questioned by the FBI. Yet you’re the crook.
Aaron, my name is not Liz. It’s Sarah. I am disenchanted taxpayer in the city Grover Beach. Ask someone sweetie. You do not live here and obviously have zero idea of what goes on here. That letter that you wrote yourself, is nothing. That’s not even real. Look her license up. You are a KNOWN troll who has been severely admonished by judge so maybe you should heed that judge’s words.
Sorry about the butcher job. Multitasking. But by all means, ask away Aaron. We put up with a lot of caca and they charge this lady for a noisy camera? Jeff, you know anything about this?
For someone named “Sarah,” you sure took my comments about Liz a little too personally and were a little too quick on the draw. But hey, hats off to you for denying reality and pretending to know the facts about a case that Karen Velie lost. If I were you, I’d be more careful siding with the disgraced “journalist” who perjured herself in court multiple times. Then again, I’m not surprised that you have, given you went around Facebook, calling me a “paid hacker” working for the county and citing a passage out of my book that didn’t exist as proof.
I’m amused by the fact you readily dismissed evidence of things you thought didn’t exist, but you call *me* the troll. Nice touch. And thank you so much for telling me that I don’t live in Grover Beach. You’re right. I don’t know much about what goes on in Grover Beach, but I do know that you only got 12.6% of the vote two years ago. I don’t know Grover Beach, but I know math, and the math shows the vast majority don’t care much about your nonsense. And with these misdemeanor charges coming up, voters will be reminded why you’re unfit for mayor.
But hey, if you’re actually not “Liz,” I suggest you don’t respond on her behalf because you just made her look a lot worse with your gibberish.
Yeah I take it very personally when the rest of us are told to kick rocks and people have lived here for years trying to get things done and the city does NOTHING. I expect my excessive taxes to work for me. That’s right. But you can charge this lady right before an election for a “very noisy camera” haha sure. You know what we put up with here in GB? No, you don’t. Heed the judge’s advice and straighten up, Aaron.
You know why you get that reaction from the city, right? It’s because you don’t have a clear, coherent message. Heck, why are you even bothering to attack me and keep referencing an incoherent article? You keep saying I’m not a Grover Beach resident and don’t know the issues, but you haven’t bothered to coherently explain what those issues are. And why would I bother asking away if I’m not a resident?
If you were on the up-and-up and not a troll, you would know that Grover Beach residents are reading this article and wondering why the Hell they should vote for Elizabeth Doukas. So far, you haven’t made the case for her and you’ve made the case against me, which is strange and ineffective. I’m not running for mayor. The way I see it: if she’s incapable of dealing with her neighbors in a civil manner, how can she possibly be mayor of a whole city? I think that’s a fair question.
The fact that you keep distracting us from the conversations we should be having shows bad intentions. This isn’t conduct from somehow who truly cares about the city and their potential constituents. This is the conduct of a failed candidate who knows deep down they will fail again.
Wow, what a mean and hateful person you are, where you get all this nastiness and condemnation for someone you know nothing about is unconscionable.
I was an official reporter for the State of California for 30 years, I have known Elizabeth Doukas for many years as a true professional in the San Luis Obispo Court. For new Times to write what is so obviously a “James Comey hit job” right before the election on Liz Doukas is really unconscionable and very shoddy journalism. There is no fact checking, no critique of the persons/history/backstory/facts, just a great example of what is hurting our democracy today. I would expect this of Fox News [sic], mainly because a Federal judge recently ruled that Fox News is not news but merely entertainment. No one expects truth from Sean Hannity, ruled the judge, and I guess now no one expects truth from the SLO NewTimes either.
There’s nothing mean or hateful about holding people accountable. Given the fact Mrs. Doukas lied about me and failed to inform me on the status of my transcript request that I’ve waited four years for — a transcript that was intentionally distorted by Mrs. Doukas’ own client — I think the condemnation is well-deserved. I’ve received harassing messages and death threats over her client’s “reporting” on me and the transcript that Mrs. Doukas failed to procure. If she had a shred of honor or decency, she would apologize to me and Grover Beach voters for her vicious lies and misconduct.
Recently, I learned Mrs. Doukas was a participant in a conspiracy theory documentary filmed by CalCoastNews that is meant to attack the judicial process. If Mrs. Doukas was a “true professional,” she would distance herself from widely discredited, professional and pathological liars who generate income and clicks from attacking the court and wasting taxpayer money with frivolous and malicious lawsuits. Nobody, and I mean nobody who truly fights against corruption pals around with CalCoastNews.
Lastly, the SLO New Times covered a matter of public interest. If a political candidate is either facing criminal charges or had a criminal conviction that wasn’t previously disclosed, that’s news. They covered the article fairly, spoke to both parties, and obtained facts without once placing their thumb on the scale. I find it fascinating that people who oppose local corruption and alleged cover-ups by the Grover Beach City Council would be so adamant about covering up facts about their candidate that voters deserve to know about.
All the more reason Grover Beach residents should not vote for Elizabeth Doukas for mayor. She is morally and mentally unfit for the job.
Looks like Elizabeth needs to file a restraining order against you like the other lady did. How much does Jeff Lee pay you?
Why are you picking on Liz. She has been harassed by tenants living in a non-permitted unit for years.
It is obvious this reporter does little research for the truth.
Investigate the current Mayor of Grover Beach. Find out what the FBI knows.
FBI went to Jeff Lees home recently to look for what? Documents hidden that should have been at the city office?
Now there is a real story!
This is clearly a hit job. 4 days before the election, the challenger has a B.S. story written about her having a chirping security camera she installed for her own protection. The real story is that she was set up not to run. Who else do you know has charges filed against them for low batteries in a security camera? The correct answer is no one. Why is Liz being harassed by the Grover Beach police dept? Why did she feel the need to have a security camera in her own back yard? Why did the Grover Beach police dept make her feel so threatened that she had to have the camera? Who directs the Grover Beach PD? Oh that would be Jeff Lee the mayor that is under investigation by the FBI! It looks like the FBI will now have some more questions for Jeff Lee. I am tired of the corruption. This story has convinced me to vote for Liz!!!
The fact that Elizabeth Doukas and her supporters make up things about me, a non-Grover Beach resident, shows how ill-equipped they are to address actual Grover Beach residents with honesty and transparency. Restraining order? Bribes? Come on. QAnon comes up with more creative conspiracy theory defamation than that. Step up your game.
You are way too invested in this, Aaron. None of these women want anything to do with you nor will they ever. Get over it. Go take your meds.
kasey-bubnash this is the worst article ever!!
YOU CAN NOT SEE WHAT A SUCKER YOU ARE. You fell into the bully trap along with the rest of them and they know who they are. Those people that have caused the damages will never have any face value ever. They will not be ever believed ever. You have so much miss information that you to now have no face value and you should be removed from your job. This article is example of the injustice in San Luis obispo county. This article was a disenfranchisement of many citizens. MS. Doukas reached out to her neighbors repeatidly to help only to meet with hostile anger and aggression in every turn. You and Holly and Cinnamon and your corrupt peoples who have sent you down a wrong path. You need to realize you have added more dismay to this town and to our good citizens of this town failing to do your job failing to investigate thoroughly. You need to get someone else to correct the record and find the truth. And that the good citizens who know the truth will vote for MS. DOUKAS