On a winter morning in Woodland Hills, the “Squatter Hunter” slowly approaches a posh two-story home dressed in all black, armed with a Glock 26 pistol, stun gun, pepper spray and baton. His body camera is on. His two-man squad lurks behind him.

They’ve spent four days in surveillance, learning the habits of the man squatting inside. They’ve waited for him to leave, but he never does. So they knock on the front door, and when the occupant opens it, they barge inside.

Their plan: live with the squatter. Dirty the bathroom. Take the best spot on the couch. Commandeer the TV remote. Blast music. Drink his coffee. Eat his Cheetos.

Out-squat him. And film it all for YouTube.

As the body camera footage shows, the team starts installing Ring cameras throughout the home to document every interaction. The Squatter Hunter, Flash Shelton, hands the man a lease with Shelton’s name on it.

“You’re an intruder in my house now,” he says.

Shelton explains that the man is there illegally, and the team is not going anywhere until he leaves. The squatter was out before they could even share breakfast together.

For homeowners in Southern California and beyond, run-ins with squatters can be a nightmare both emotionally and financially. For the Squatter Hunter, it’s just another day on the job.

What started as a viral YouTube video has grown into a one-of-a-kind vigilante-style service, helping homeowners boot trespassers from their property.

His motto: “If they can take a house, I can take a house.”

A new identity

Shelton, a California native, understands what drives some people to squat. He said he grew up practically homeless, “moving every time the rent was due.”

At 16, he started a handyman business, and in 2009 he established the United Handyman Assn., a trade organization that lobbies for handyman rights. Along the way, Shelton, 56, also worked as a bouncer, where he learned how to handle situations that could turn violent.

“I took the same deescalation courses law enforcement would take,” he said.

Shelton carries a no-nonsense demeanor and sports a thick gray goatee, a San Fernando Valley version of Josh Brolin. On his website, he poses in a black baseball cap emblazoned with the words, “GET OUT.”

His first experience with a squatter was in 2019. Shelton’s father died two years prior, and his mother moved in with him while they put her Northern California home on the market.

A woman reached out about renting it — offering repairs for free rent, since she had no money — but Shelton declined. But while the home was unoccupied, the woman broke in through the back door and moved in, furniture and all, Shelton said. He started receiving calls from real estate agents planning to show the house to prospective buyers saying they couldn’t access it because people were living inside.

He called the local sheriff’s department, but according to Shelton, they said they couldn’t enter the house since it appeared to be occupied.

Hearing nightmares about the lengthy and arduous process of dragging out an eviction in court, Shelton got creative; he had his mom write up a lease making him the official tenant of the home. That way, he could legally enter the property.

“If they’re the squatter, they have rights. So if I become the squatter on a squatter, I should have rights,” he said.

He drove 10 hours from the San Fernando Valley and slept in his Jeep outside the home, waiting for her to leave in the morning. When she did, he went inside and installed Ring cameras throughout the property.

When she returned, he explained that he was the new tenant and that she needed to move all her stuff out. Since he was now in possession of the property, he said if she returned, he would call the police for trespassing.

She left by the end of the day.

Squatting isn’t common; most housing disputes are between landlords and tenants, in which an entirely different set of rules is in play. But for homeowners who’ve dealt with an actual squatter, the process of removing them can be arduous and costly, taking weeks or months and costing tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees.

But Shelton made it look easy. He recorded the entire encounter and published a recap on YouTube titled, “How I removed squatters in less than a day.”

The video went viral, racking up millions of views and thousands of comments. Shelton saw an opportunity.

“I just simplified it. There’s so many people asking me why we haven’t been doing this all along,” he said. “I was just fighting for my mom in the beginning, but now I’ve reinvented myself.”

And so, the Squatter Hunter was born.

Flash Shelton shows off his tool belt complete with a baton at Todd Longshore Park in Santa Clarita this month.

(Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times)

Keith Moret, a commercial real estate agent with Lyon Stahl, first heard of Shelton when he appeared on a TV news segment shortly after his YouTube video went viral. Since then, he’s been sharing the story in real estate circles.

“I’m not surprised he’s getting attention,” Moret said. “So many people are frustrated with the legal system. Attorneys are expensive, and the deck feels stacked against housing providers.”

He said squatting has become more of an issue as homelessness rises, and he takes precautions when listing buildings with vacant units. On a recent sale in East Hollywood, he hired someone to board up all the windows while the deal was in escrow.

Shelton has since started a website, squatterhunters.com, where he offers his services. Over the last year he’s conducted hundreds of Zoom consultations, talking homeowners through their squatter problems and coaching them on potential strategies.

Business is booming. He consults for free but requires clients to donate $150 to a GoFundMe advocating for squatter law change. So far, he’s raised nearly $9,000.

“Just the hope itself helps people,” he said. “People are tired of hearing that there’s nothing they can do about someone stealing their home from them.”

For clients with bigger problems, he offers to remove the squatter personally, either by himself or with a team he assembles. Over the last few months, he said he has handled about 10 jobs in California and Nevada. The minimum price for a job is around $5,000. There is no maximum.

Sometimes it takes three to four hours. Sometimes it takes weeks.

It can be costly, but Shelton said he’s encountered homeowners who’ve already sunk $100,000 into their efforts to remove a squatter through the legal system and made no progress.

“I don’t tell them what I’m doing or how I’m doing it. I just tell them to make me a leaseholder, and I handle the rest,” he said.

California’s housing crisis

Squatters aren’t created in a vacuum. More often than not, they’re the product of a brutal California housing market in which rents skyrocket and affordable housing disappears.

In L.A., the median rent is $2,750, well above the national median of $2,045, according to Zillow. Soaring home values, especially since the pandemic, have contributed to a widening wealth gap in Southern California, leaving many renters in desperate financial situations.

But there’s a big difference between tenants — even ones who stopped paying rent a long time ago — and squatters.

A tenant is someone who was invited onto a property with consent, said Mark Martinez, a tenant rights attorney. That consent can be as formal as a written lease or as casual as a verbal agreement. Even if a tenant stops paying rent, they still have protections, and landlords have to go through an official eviction process, which can take weeks or months.

For example, Elizabeth Hirschhorn, the woman who stayed in a luxury Airbnb in Brentwood for 570 days rent-free, was technically a tenant. Even though she stopped paying rent, she initially had an agreement to move in.

A squatter is essentially a trespasser, Martinez said: someone who goes into a property without permission and stays there.

Besides adverse possession, a rarely seen process in which a person can obtain a property after openly living there and paying property taxes for five years, there are no true “squatter’s rights,” Martinez said. Trespassing is illegal, and squatters cannot legally live in a home.

Still, they are innocent until proven guilty, and homeowners can’t simply go in and drag them out of the home or else they expose themselves to a potential lawsuit for harassment or assault.

In some cases, police cannot immediately remove squatters for a variety of reasons, Martinez said. For example, a squatter could claim the landlord allowed them to live there or produce a fake lease, making the situation more ambiguous.

Moret, the real estate agent, said police officers once refused to remove a squatter living beneath the carport outside one of his buildings because he didn’t have a “No Trespassing” sign posted. Another time, police said their hands were tied because residents had no proof that the squatter committed a crime, according to Moret.

Shelton said many of the homeowners he consults with claim that police aren’t able to remove squatters because they have no proof of when exactly the squatter entered the home and how long they’ve been there.

The L.A. County Sheriff’s Department did not return multiple requests for comment.

Both Shelton and Martinez said the first thing you should do if you encounter a squatter in your home is go to the police. Martinez said if the police are unable to remove them, call an attorney.

He advised against using Shelton’s services.

“It sets a stage for violence,” Martinez said. “Even if there’s not a legal risk, when you’re invading somebody’s living space, there’s always potential for physical conflict.”

Martinez acknowledges that the eviction process can be lengthy since there are multiple obstacles in the way that hinder landlords from a speedy eviction, and some civil cases can take a year or longer. But he says that’s the way it has to be — especially in cities such as Los Angeles and San Francisco, where rents have skyrocketed.

“Tenants are consistently taken advantage of, and they need rights,” he said. “Landlords want real justice. They want squatters out immediately. But that has to be balanced with due process and being able to defend yourself in court.”

Shelton said working with an attorney to push an eviction through the court system will take months and cost a small fortune in legal fees and lost rent.

“If you find a squatter and have no clue why they’re in your home, and then you file legal documents declaring that they’re in your home, you’re giving them rights as a tenant. But I can try to get them out before anyone knows they’re there,” he said.

“Before you call a lawyer, call me.”

The Squatter Hunter method

Shelton has to be selective with the cases he takes.

First, he only deals with squatters, never tenants, and only takes on cases where nothing has been filed in court so that there’s no proof that the squatter is living in the home. If a judge has already given them tenant rights, his hands are tied on what he’s legally allowed to do.

Then, he visits the local law enforcement office and explains what he’s doing. That way, if there’s a hostile situation, police officers know his specific plans and intentions.

After that, he works with the homeowner to write up a lease declaring him the tenant and records himself signing it. If he ever goes to court, he’ll have proof that the home belongs to him.

The fact that he’s doing the work, and not the homeowner, is part of Shelton’s legal calculus. According to Martinez, California law prohibits “self-help evictions,” in which landlords try to remove a squatter themselves.

It’s one of four things he lists on his website for landlords to avoid when trying to evict a tenant: no self-help evictions, no retaliation against the tenant, no discrimination and no harassment. He added that a homeowner who hires Shelton might have vicarious liability; they didn’t kick the squatter out themselves, but someone they hired did.

So far, no squatter has taken Shelton to court — to win back possession of the home, they’d have to prove that they entered it legally. But the homeowner’s potential “vicarious liability” is one of the reasons he doesn’t identify them publicly or tell them about his plans; the less they know the better if a dispute ever goes to court.

Once the lease is signed, he turns into a private investigator, researching everything he can about the squatter: name, age, background check, criminal history, anything he can use when he finally confronts them. He interviews neighbors to learn the squatter’s habits and stakes out the house for days to see when they leave and when they return.

Flash Shelton researches everything he can about the squatter before he finally confronts the person.

(Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times)

Shelton sometimes works solo, and if he does need help, he has a strict screening process for those who want to join an operation.

“Most guys I talk to have beer muscles and want to rip a squatter right out of the home. I need someone who can stand there and keep their mouth shut,” he said.

If he brings in someone who whips out a weapon and hurts someone, he could potentially be liable, he said.

Although every case is different, there’s generally an easy way and a hard way to remove a squatter.

The easy way: Wait for the squatter to leave the home and secure possession of the property while they’re gone. Change the locks and install security cameras.

“Now, they’re fighting to get back in instead of the homeowner fighting to get them out,” he said.

The situations are tense, but he said he stays calm. The deescalation training helps.

“I know these people didn’t wake up with the intention to ruin my day. Squatters aren’t attacking me or my family. They’re just taking advantage of a system,” he said. “The last thing I want to do is aggravate a situation that could be handled civilly, and part of that is being nice.”

The hard way: squatting with the squatter.

“If I can’t get them off the property, I’ll move in with them,” he said. “I walk in, sit on the couch, pour a bowl of cereal and say, ‘Lucy, I’m home!’”

He hands the squatter a copy of the lease and explains that he’s not going anywhere — that he’s there to make their living situation miserable and “turn it into a reality show” with cameras everywhere.

They’re typically out by the end of the day.

To help persuade squatters to leave, he offers them a deal: If they go peacefully, he’ll keep their identity a secret.

Most squatters accept. For those who don’t, he uploads their picture onto his website and their interaction onto YouTube and Instagram. He’s currently building a database of confirmed squatters so landlords can avoid renting to them in the future.

One YouTube video details a confrontation with Adam Fleischman, the former chief executive of the restaurant chain Umami Burger. In the video, Fleischman claims he had a verbal agreement to live in a Hollywood Hills home, giving him rights as a tenant, but that he didn’t have to pay rent.

In another, Shelton sneaks up on a woman entering a Culver City home through a window.

“What do you have to say for yourself?” he asks.

She doesn’t take the bait, instead responding with an onslaught of curses.

Shelton, a single father with five kids, two living at home, doesn’t want to hunt squatters forever, but demand has been overwhelming.

The end game is policy change. His GoFundMe advocates for legislation that would expand law enforcement’s ability to remove squatters and also make it easier for judges to order squatters to pay restitution.

“The whole system needs to change,” he said. “I want my name on a bill.”

The post Out-squatted: Handyman Flash Shelton will squat along with your squatters — till they go away appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.

Apparently there is a great demand for on-call craftsmen.

Khosla Ventures and Pear VC just tripled their investment in Honey Homes, which provides a dedicated handyman to take care of all the tasks on a homeowner's to-do list. The company raised $9 million in a Series A funding round last June.

Era Ventures led the startup's most recent capital raise, an additional $9.25 million in funding that CEO and co-founder Vishwas Prabhakara called “an upside round.” (PitchBook estimated the startup's value at $39 million last June, though the company itself said that was “not accurate.”) In total, Honey Homes has raised $21.35 million in venture capital since its inception.

So what was the reason for the latest capital injection? A surge in member adoption. The company announced last fall that it had doubled its membership to “well over 1,000 members” in three months. It also grew annual recurring revenue by 3.6x by 2023. While the company declined to provide specific revenue numbers, Prabhakara said the company expects to “do the same and hit eight-digit ARR in 2024.” (Eight-digits is $10 million, of course.)

“Our team visits over 150 homes every day,” he added.

Husband and wife team Vishwas Prabhakara (Yelp's first CEO) and Avantika Prabhakara (former marketing director at Opendoor, Trulia, and Zillow) co-founded Honey Homes in 2021 with Katie Pham and Rory O'Connell. The startup, which launched with its first 10 beta customers in August of that year, hires the handyman as part of its staff. The handyman works as an employee to ensure that work is done consistently in a person's home.

Homeowners pay Honey Homes a flat fee for the convenience of an “end-to-end” membership-based service through the app. This fee ranges from $250 to $395 per month depending on location, although there are discounted annual plans available.

The way it works is that members are assigned a dedicated tradesman who comes by at least once a month to take care of renovations and preventative maintenance. Because employees are permanent, they also receive benefits like parental leave and paid vacation, a rarity in an industry that has traditionally relied on contract workers. However, if someone wants to try out different contract workers for variety, they have that option too.

Honey Homes is currently available to single-family homeowners in the San Francisco Bay Area (including the city itself) as well as much of the Dallas-Fort Worth region. It recently launched in Los Angeles and is currently expanding there as well, with plans to expand further in Texas as well.

“We cover about five times more households in our service area than we did a year ago,” said Vishwas Prabhakara.

Honey Homes only launched in San Francisco earlier this year, but according to Vishwas Prabhakara, this market is currently the fastest growing.

“The city is a different caliber [than the suburbs],” he said. “There are parking issues, there are crime issues, there's a lot to think about. But now it's actually kind of our crown jewel, our fastest growing market.”

The startup is also adding new features, such as AI, to streamline workflow for its team of tradesmen and provide more “maintenance requests on autopilot.”

Interestingly, DoorDash co-founder Evan Moore sits on Honey Homes' board of directors, and another DoorDash veteran, Andrew Ladd, was hired last year to spearhead Honey Homes' product development.

Moore told TechCrunch last year that he believes Honey Homes is different from many other consumer startups in the home services space that simply connect homeowners with potential providers or “act as a concierge.” Competitors include Angi, TaskRabbit and Thumbtack, among others.

According to Vishwas Prabhakara, the company decided to pursue an extension instead of a Series B after concluding that it needed less capital to become profitable than previously expected. (The company aims to be profitable in the next few years.) In addition to membership revenue, the average homeowner spends over $750 per year on additional services provided by the service, such as purchasing replacement parts.

Honey Homes currently employs 75 people and has doubled its team of craftsmen from 25 to over 50.

Clelia Peters of Era Ventures said she chose to invest in Honey Homes because “high-quality home maintenance services from a dedicated handyman were typically reserved for only the wealthiest homeowners or those who owned condos and apartments with on-site caretakers.”

She believes the need for Honey Homes' offering will be even greater in a world where homeowners are required to stay in and maintain their homes for longer periods of time (due to the lock-in effect caused by skyrocketing interest rates).”

“In addition, we expect the trend towards home electrification to lead to greater demand for reliable advice and installation services. Honey Homes is well positioned to provide these services,” she added.

The post Khosla Ventures, Pear VC triple down on Honey Houses, a sensible strategy to rent a handyman appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.

Yes, that's right, there really is a “Handyman Song #12.” There were at least 11 previous versions, so I decided this would be the last one. How did that come about? It's a long story, a very long story. As a self-employed handyman for the past 16 years, I chose to promote myself in a variety of ways. As a self-published poet for the past 48 years, rhymes came easily to me. As a former graphic designer and manager and supervisor and illustrator and graduate engineer for 52 years and before that, making things in the corporate world was always a breeze for me. My parents were both very creative, as were my three younger brothers, and I had three uncles who were in the Seabees in WWII (carpenter, welder, and machinist). Creative stuff is in my blood. My dad had both arms amputated in WWII, so I grew up learning how to use my hands from a man who had none.
I grew up in Walnut Creek, graduated from Las Lomas High School in 1960, attended Diablo Valley College, and received an AA degree in general education in 1963. That same year I transferred to UC Berkeley as a junior in mechanical design. By 1966 I had both my bachelor's and master's degrees in mechanical design. Sometime in the 1980s I earned a certificate in graphic design in UC extension courses in San Francisco and Berkeley. I have owned a Macintosh computer since 1994. Before that, my graphics group at Bechtel SF were wizards in the field of marketing communications using Macs until Bechtel decided to close its SF regional office at 50 Beale Street, one block from Market. The photos for the ad were either shot myself or pulled from the Internet. A good friend of mine found the lady with the smeared lipstick on the Internet. Who knew such a shot existed? Enjoy!

(Graphics by Peter Bray)

Peter Bray has lived, worked and written in Benicia since 1982 and has written this column since 2008.

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Benicia resident Peter Bray gained some notoriety after one of his songs, “Laid Off American Man,” was mentioned in a column by Herb Caen. Bray wrote the song in 1994 after Bechtel fired him.

BENICIA >> It's been 20 years since Peter Bray left the corporate world with a song in his heart. It brought him fame.

Yes, the longtime Benician wrote and recorded a song after being fired from Bechtel. The title was “Dismissed American Man.” He sent a cassette copy to legendary San Francisco Chronicle gossip columnist Herb Caen, who reprinted the lyrics and called Bray “my hero today.”

“He gave me the top six inches of it,” said Bray, a cheerful handyman and Benicia poetry group regular.

There is more. Within a week, Bray said he received a postcard from noted upstate New York folk singer Pete Seeger that said, “I just read Herb Caen. How do I get a copy of your song?” I thought, “How cool!” “

Two weeks later, Bray received another message in the mail from Seeger requesting a second copy.

“I thought, 'Okay, he liked it, he'll send it to Arlo Guthrie, Arlo will record it and I'll be home free!' I'm rich and fat and famous!” “

Unfortunately, “it didn’t happen,” Bray chuckled. “It’s a great thing, but I fix toilets.”

Bray, 71, still loves poetry and songwriting. He's been at it for more than 40 years, filling pieces of paper – and later notebooks – with rhymes about his children and other things that piqued his interest. He still performs at open mics where he uses humor to connect with listeners.

“If you can get the whole room to shut up and become quiet because you really speak in a low voice and bring it up, you can get the whole crowd of 30 people to move with you,” Bray said. who has self-published three volumes of poetry since 1972. “And then when you add something funny and make the same 30 people laugh, that’s just a kick in the butt!”

A native of Walnut Creek, Bray earned a master's degree in mechanical engineering from the University of California, Berkeley in 1966. He worked in the defense industry for several years, designing rockets, before setting up his own business as a design engineer and graphic illustrator. He eventually got a job at Bechtel in San Francisco, where he worked as a graphics manager. After 10 years, he was laid off as part of a major downsizing.

“So I wrote ‘Laid Off American Man,’” said Bray, who has been writing poetry since the early ’70s. The song begins like this: “I do windows, I do floors, I do hallways, I do doors, I do everything I can, I'm a laid off American man!”

“I had a cassette, I had a cover and I sent it to Herb Caen,” Bray said. “And about a week later, I called one of my designers (at Bechtel) after I left and said, ‘Hey, how’s it going?’ He said, ‘PR is on alert.’ I said, ‘What are you talking about ?” He said, “You didn't see Herb Caen this morning? You'd better.” So I went to Raley, got the Chronicle, opened it up and he typed up all my texts.”

The final verses read: “I was vice president in charge of BD, with a mission statement and a cell phone, a company watch and a company loan, I was vice president in charge of BD.” Now I'm a gardener in the promised land, all my tools are in a one man van, now I do windows, I do floors, I do hallways, I do doors, do everything I can, I'm a laid off American!”

Not everything Bray writes or performs is funny. “Weeping at Starbucks” conveys his pain in the hours after his daughter's death from Crohn's disease in February 2012. It begins: “After house coffee and apple sales and ten thousand words of condolence via email, cell phone.”, cards and letters, it runs to that “Crying at Starbucks while the quiet chatter and overheard music compete.”

What drives his creativity? “It’s therapeutic for me and entertaining,” Bray said. “And maybe…it’ll be helpful to someone else.”

Contact Tony Burchyns at 707-553-6831.

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SANTA CLARA (CBS/AP) — Authorities in Santa Clara County have identified a third suspect accused of beating a Morgan Hill repairman who was allegedly forced to repair a dishwasher and other appliances at risk to his life.

Sheriff's Sgt. Jose Cardoza said Wednesday that 49-year-old Richard Rodriguez Jr. is wanted on charges of assault with a deadly weapon and false imprisonment for beating the 50-year-old handyman, holding him hostage and forcing him to make various household repairs a home in Morgan Hill on Dec. 3.

Jason DeJesus, 36, and Chanelle Troedson, 33, are accused of holding a handyman hostage in their Morgan Hill home on Dec. 3, 2012. (Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office)

The repairman escaped and notified police after being driven to a supermarket in San Jose.

Police later arrested 36-year-old Jason DeJesus and 33-year-old Chanelle Troedson, both of Morgan Hill, on similar criminal charges as well as kidnapping.

“The victim was pretty scared. He was pretty shaken up and scared by the whole incident,” Cardoza said after the incident. “What he told investigators is that he was just trying to do what he was told, which was to wait for the opportunity to escape.”

The attack followed a months-long dispute between the handyman and a relative of DeJesus over payment for previous work.

(Copyright 2012 by CBS San Francisco. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

More from CBS News

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As spring approaches, many hobby gardeners unpack their planting trowels, plan their seed rows and stock up on potting soil. But some diligent gardeners work year-round, scattering seeds into the wind to add cheerful splashes of color wherever they go. These environmental activists, known as “guerrilla gardeners,” have gained popularity on social media in recent years by creating videos showing how to create a guerrilla garden, how to “clean up” empty plots of land. bombarded with seeds” and much more.

@treasurewellwisher Non-invasive species only #planttok #guerrillagardening ♬ Fairy Fountain – Mikel & GameChops

But these videos have raised numerous questions among viewers about the controversial practice: What is guerrilla gardening? Is it even legal? When did it start? Should I get involved? Consider this your friendly introduction to this longstanding activist practice.

What is Guerrilla Gardening?

Guerrilla gardening is the practice of planting the seeds of edible plants or flowers on unused or aesthetically unattractive land. This can be done with or without the consent of the property owner. Guerrilla gardening can take a variety of forms, from designing and planting traditional garden plots for an underserved community to “seed bombing,” or throwing seed balls out the car window onto a plot.

How did guerrilla gardening begin?

miriam-doerr/Getty Images

According to DenGarden.com, guerrilla gardening “has its roots in New York City in the 1970s and has since spread to other cities around the world.” The start of the movement is largely credited to activist Liz Kristy and the Green Guerrilla group. From then on, Guerrilla Gardening has spread worldwide and many key figures continue Kristy's work. Richard Reynolds, for example, is a British activist whose guerrilla gardening efforts in South London are remembered. Additionally, Ron Finley of South Central LA founded the Ron Finley Project to teach guerrilla gardening techniques.

What are some examples of guerrilla gardening?

Many established community gardens across America originally began as guerrilla gardens. The Liz Kristy Community Garden in Manhattan is obviously a tribute to guerrilla gardeners, but you may have also come across other guerrilla gardens such as the Garden of Hope in Philadelphia, the Green Street Community Garden in Chicago, or the Phoenix Community Garden in San Francisco.

Is guerrilla gardening legal?

Not exactly. Guerrilla gardening was viewed as an inherently illegal, anarchist act because it depended on planting and cultivating other people's land without permission. However, in recent years the definition has expanded to include those who garden on public land, often with permission. In short, the legitimacy of your guerrilla gardening practice depends on how closely you pursue it.

How can I run Guerrilla Garden legally?

Liliya Filakhtova/Getty Images

If you're a nature lover, you might be thinking about starting your own guerrilla gardening practice. While growing more plants isn't usually a bad endeavor, it's worth considering a few factors before you start sowing seeds.

As this TikToker explains, you first need to choose plants that are suitable for your region. Choose native, noninvasive varieties that won't crowd out the region's other plants.

Also, choose your location very carefully. Choose a small, uncultivated plot of land that no one owns. Discuss your gardening decision with nearby businesses or residents (yes, this takes away some of the anarchist appeal, but also ensures that you are supporting the very community you want to help).

@octaviachill Part 2 will decide what to plant! #guerrillagardening #guerrillagardening #anarchy #activism #environmentalists ♬ Original sound – Ellen Miles

Finally, call your local government to make sure you are not unknowingly violating local laws. And if guerrilla gardening still seems a little too risky for you, you can always volunteer, start a community garden, or simply share the fruits of your own labor with food pantries or others in need.

The post What Is Guerrilla Gardening? | Household Handyman appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.

A Corpus Christi man who was previously convicted and is now on the wrong side of the law again has received a decade-long prison sentence for a drive-by shooting at a former client's home. Jason Jaime Merdes, 44, will serve 120 months in federal prison following the ruling by U.S. District Judge Nelva Gonzales Ramos, U.S. Attorney Alamdar S. Hamdani confirmed Wednesday.

Merdes pleaded guilty to the charges back in August, and at the most recent court hearing the victims came forward to tell of the horror caused by the bullets flying dangerously close to their slumbering children. The repairman had previously been fired by the homeowner for a botched repair job and was quickly suspected of possibly being the shooter after the incident in May, a statement from the U.S. Department of Justice said.

Police were alerted to this by surveillance video that showed a suspicious vehicle that closely resembled the one Merdes was driving. They didn't have to wait long before they spotted the vehicle leaving his house. During a subsequent traffic stop, officers discovered a smoking gun – a holster on Merdes' belt and, more importantly, a firearm under his seat that matched the used cartridges from the crime scene. During a subsequent search of his apartment, a further trove of nine firearms was discovered.

“Two shooting victims testified in court and both described how the shooting affected their lives and how close the shots were to the rooms where their children were sleeping,” the Justice Department report detailed. Further proceedings will determine which federal prison will become Merdes' new home in the coming years.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Corpus Christi Police Department conducted the incident. Assistant U.S. Attorney Ashley Martin led the prosecution in the courtroom.

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A Northern California man and woman are accused of luring a repairman into a home, beating him and holding him against his will for about six hours while they forced him, at risk to his life, to repair a dishwasher and other appliances.

Jason DeJesus, 36, and Chanelle Troedson, 33, were charged with false imprisonment and other crimes Thursday, three days after they were arrested in the attack on the 50-year-old handyman, Santa Clara County authorities said.

Sheriff's Sgt. Jose Cardoza told The Associated Press the attack stemmed from a dispute between the handyman and a relative of DeJesus over payment for work he did at the relative's home about two months ago.

The suspects lured the handyman to the home in the San Francisco Bay Area town of Morgan Hill on Monday morning with the promise of receiving money owed to him and completing other work. Instead, the craftsman was immediately attacked, Cardoza said.

“He was scared, just seconds after he entered the house he was scared,” the sheriff's sergeant said.

According to Cardoza, the suspects repeatedly threatened and beat the repairman and forced him to repair equipment over the next approximately six hours. They then forced him into his truck and told him that they would take him to the relative's house to complete the work done there.

The repairman managed to escape and call authorities when the suspects stopped in San Jose to get gas.

He had visible injuries but refused to be taken to a hospital, Cardoza said. The man's name has not been released.

DeJesus and Troedson were also charged with kidnapping during a carjacking, kidnapping for the purpose of robbery, assault and battery.

They were expected to be arraigned Thursday afternoon. It was not immediately clear whether any of the suspects had an attorney.

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Information from: San Francisco Chronicle, https://www.sfgate.com

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(CBS) Apparently there's more than one way to fix the kitchen faucet.

As CBS San Francisco reports, police arrested a California couple on Monday after they allegedly took a handyman hostage and forced him to do home repairs.

Investigators said the 50-year-old handyman was lured to the 4,600-square-foot home south of San Jose on Monday morning, where 36-year-old Jason DeJesus and 33-year-old Chanelle Troedson beat him and threatened to kill him, forcing him to do so The problem was addressed to multiple items in the house over a six hour period. Repairs included a dishwasher and a broken door.

“The victim was quite scared. “He was pretty shaken and frightened by the whole incident,” Sgt. Jose Cardoza of the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office.

Cardoza said the handyman worked for DeJesus' mother two months ago, which she didn't like.

“There was a dispute over services provided, the victim was not paid in full,” Cardoza said Tuesday. “That kind of impacted what happened last night.”

Authorities said the suspects forced the victim into his truck later Monday night, where he was told they were driving to a relative's home to make further repairs. When they stopped at a gas station to pay for gas and snacks, the victim escaped. The suspects were arrested shortly afterwards.

DeJesus and Troedson are charged with multiple crimes, including false imprisonment, kidnapping, assault with a deadly weapon, criminal threats and conspiracy.

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MORGAN HILL (CBS 5) – Two people who live in a large home in Morgan Hill were arrested on suspicion of taking a handyman hostage and forcing him to make repairs to the home.

Investigators said the 50-year-old victim was lured to a home in the 200 block of Caldwell Court Monday morning. The sprawling 4,600-square-foot home has five bedrooms and is equipped with a pool, beach volleyball court and tennis court.

“He was assaulted, his life was threatened and he was forced to do work in the house,” Sgt. Jose Cardoza of the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office told CBS 5.

Investigators said 36-year-old Jason DeJesus and 33-year-old Chanelle Troedson beat the repairman, threatened to kill him and forced him to repair several items in the home over a six-hour period. Repairs included a dishwasher and a broken door.

“The victim was pretty scared. He was pretty shaken up and scared by this whole incident,” Cardoza said. “What he told investigators is that he was just trying to do what he was told, which was to wait for the opportunity to escape.”

On Monday evening, authorities said the suspects forced the repairman into his truck. While one of the suspects was driving, the victim was told they were going to the home of a suspect's relative in Santa Clara to make further repairs.

They stopped at a gas station on Santa Teresa Blvd. and Cottle Road in South San Jose. The repairman escaped as the suspects left to pay for gas and snacks. DeJesus and Troedson were arrested by police shortly afterwards.

Other residents of the home declined an interview with CBS 5.

Investigators said the repairman had done work for De Jesus' mother two months ago.

“The work was not carried out at that time to relatives of the suspect and, moreover, there was a dispute about the services provided, the victim was not paid in full. “That kind of impacted what happened last night,” Cardoza said.

DeJesus and Troedson are charged with multiple crimes, including false imprisonment, kidnapping, assault with a deadly weapon, criminal threats and conspiracy.

Anyone with information about this case is asked to call Sgt. Julian Quinonez or Detective Sgt. Dave Roberts at the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office at (408) 808-4500. Tips can also be left anonymously at (408) 808-4431.

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