Infamous Neighbor Is Gone; Problems Linger

For more than a year the former home of a man that many in the exclusive Chevy Chase area of Glendale considered an infamous nuisance has remained vacant, gutted by fire.

For months residents have been urging the city to force the owner to repair the house, situated on a quiet residential street of $300,000 homes prized for their view. But some who live closest say they prefer that it remain untouched. They fear the former resident may return.

William Childs Sanford, who lived at 811 Ridge Drive for 10 years and has now apparently left Glendale, had more complaints lodged against him than any other citizen in the city’s history, according to a Police Department spokeswoman.

Sgt. Diane Phillips said the complaints were as frequent as two or three times a week during Sanford’s residency on Ridge Drive.

“He’s infamous,” Phillips said. “Every police officer in the department knows his name.”

Phillips said Sanford became known within the department by doing various inexplicable things. Several times, for instance, she said he turned on radio music at 2 a.m., blasting it from a speaker mounted on his chimney, then locked up the house and left.

Phillips said neighbors complained frequently that Sanford trimmed his lawn with a power mower at midnight and turned on flood lights that beamed into neighbors’ windows at all hours of the night. One resident complained that Sanford stuck a garden hose into the bedroom window of his home and flooded it. Others said he drove his car into vehicles parked in front of his home and pushed them down the street.

Shortly before 6 a.m. on Nov. 15, 1983, a fire broke out in the garage of the Sanford house, destroying the garage and part of the house. Damage was estimated at $125,000 to the structure and $10,000 to contents. Dennis Wilson, Glendale fire investigator, determined that the fire was arson.

Sanford, who was divorced and the only occupant of the house at the time of the fire, was arrested shortly afterward on suspicion of arson. The district attorney’s office never prosecuted Sanford because it said it lacked sufficient evidence. However, Wilson said Sanford “had no explanation of how he received burns on his hands.”

County records indicate that Sanford, 46, was in severe financial difficulty by the time of the fire. Lenders had begun foreclosure proceedings on his house. According to Wilson, a sign-painting business he operated out of his garage was failing, as well as a dating service he ran.

Michael Levine, vice president of Zenith Home Loans of Tarzana, said that, in 1982, Sanford consolidated several loans that Zenith had made to him. Levine said Sanford took out a $100,000 second trust deed on his property, due in one year. A $35,000 first trust deed also encumbered the property, which he had purchased in 1973.

Eyesore, Health Hazard

Residents complain that the house, vacant since the fire, is an eyesore and a health hazard. Strangers frequently wander about the property. Teen-agers gather there almost nightly. The city has twice drained a swimming pool and spa because mosquitoes and other insects were found breeding in stagnant rain water. Residents also have complained that rats have invaded their neighborhood from that house.

Complaints have been so voluminous that dozens of city employees instantly recognize any reference to “the Sanford house.”

Eunice Fletcher, who lives on Ridge Drive, obtained the signatures of 56 residents on the street urging the city to take action. She described the blackened hulk of the house as “just grotesque” and said, “Everybody is fed up with the whole thing.”

Glendale City Councilman John F. Day has asked the city attorney to take action to restore the house. He commented, “Those neighbors have suffered enough. They have had a cross to bear that some of us can’t imagine how heavy it has been.”

City Attorney Frank Manzano said a bench warrant has been issued for Sanford’s arrest, charging him with failure to abate a structural hazard, a misdemeanor punishable by a sentence of up to six months in jail, a $500 fine or both. He said Sanford failed to appear for an arraignment hearing Dec. 3 and that the city has been unable to find him.

However, county records indicate that Zenith Home Loan took back ownership of the blackened house in a foreclosure sale Nov. 13. Levine, the executive at Zenith, said the foreclosure was stalled for more than a year because Sanford had filed for bankruptcy. He said another person has now entered into escrow to purchase the house and plans to begin renovation within one to two months.

Meanwhile, neighbors, who asked that they not be identified because they fear Sanford’s return, said they are glad the house is vacant.

“He’s gone,” said one resident. “I like the house just the way it is.”