On May 20, 2009, OneWest Bank (formerly IndyMac Bank) and representatives for Deutsche Bank National Trust Co. (Susan Kline of ReMax of Valencia, Monster Mowers of Lancaster, CA, Field Asset Services, Inc. of Austin, TX) were involved in a case with allegations of illegal trespass, assault and attempted break-in at a house where two senior citizens were living legally. 

The senior couple were legal tenants of a house that had apparently been foreclosed upon by OneWest Bank, even though the bank had not produced a single document to prove that it now owns the house. Additionally, the couple never received legal notice that they were in jeopardy. They were properly paid up with their lease. They received no eviction notice.

While the wife was home alone on that day in May, she was startled to see a pickup truck carting a massive dumpster backing up into her driveway. She was at the upstairs window at the time. At first she thought they were using the driveway so they could turn around and move back down the street. She thought wrong. The truck kept coming; it backed up right to her front porch. And a second truck was parked at the curb.

She ran downstairs and then out the front door, waving and screaming to find out what they were doing. Not the driver nor the passenger would explain the intrusion at first. Only after repeatedly tries did they tell her they were there "to clean out the house". She continued her questions and they continued to ignore her, moving closer and closer to the front door where she was standing. One man told her to stay out of the way or else and they repeated their threats to break-in.

Frightened, she ran back inside the house and locked the door. She heard the men move to the back of the house and she ran to make sure the back door was locked. They tried to get in that way. She screamed over and over that she was calling the police. Finally she heard one of the men say that the bank sent them. Eventually they left. The terrified woman, now totally sickened by the event, could not move. She stayed barricaded in her home, waiting for the return of her husband.

When the husband came home, the first thing he did was call the police and the two of them filed a police report.

Later, upon investigation, they discovered that it was OneWest Bank/IndyMac that foreclosed on the property and that the bank (along with Deutsche Bank), in conjunction with realtors from Prudential California Realty, was responsible for sending out the "cleaning crew" robbers to break in, clean out the house and take everything that the senior couple owned and do what they want with it.

Two days after the incident, a representative of Prudential California Realty showed up with a generic letter "to the tenants" offering "cash for keys".

SUMMARY CONCLUSION:

The bank did not follow legal foreclosure or eviction proceedings.  What kind of bank or realty company deals with people this way, you might ask? Greedy pigs with no conscience, obviously.

  • Neither OneWest Bank, IndyMac/Deutsche nor Prudential California Realty took the time to find out if there were any tenants in the house.
  • After being notified of the incident, neither OneWest Bank, IndyMac, Deutsche nor Prudential California Realty apologized to the couple nor made any attempt at amends for their outrageous actions.
  • Despite repeated requests for information about the "cleaning crew" robbers, neither OneWest Bank, IndyMac nor Deutsche  nor Prudential California Realty, would provide details to the couple even though the Realty company had already admitted that they/the bank had sent the crew.
  • Prudential California Realty continued its threats to throw the senior citizens, one of whom is a military veteran, into the street, without due process.
  • OneWest Bank/IndyMac/Deutsche has never responded to a single letter or phone call made by the husband.

    Full List of Defendants in the Lawsuit that Followed:  Those who worked on behalf of IndyMac and Deutsche Bank
  • *  SUSAN KLINE (formerly of Prudential, now of ReMax of Valencia - property manager/realtor-broker hired by IndyMac/Deutsche.
  • *  MONSTER MOWERS of Lancaster, CA - trash out specialists hired by IndyMac and Field Asset Services.
    *  FIELD ASSET SERVICES, Inc. - home "preservation" company that hires locals to break into homes to trash them out; hired by IndyMac/Deutsche.
  • *  DEUTSCHE BANK NATIONAL TRUST CO. - largest foreclosure specialist in the nation.
    *  INDYMAC MORTGAGE SERVICES, Inc. - Deutsche's mortgage servicer company who initiated the fraudulent foreclosure and eviction.