Senior citizen evicted for allegedly aggressive dog

WASILLA — An alleged dog fight, an eviction notice and claims of injustice have some senior citizens questioning the security of their low-income housing.

On Thursday, July 7, 65-year-old Rhonda Modawell received a document accusing her of noncompliance with her lease at Chinook Villa Apartments in Wasilla, where she has lived for the last four years.

The document, signed by property manager Darlene Cudia, claimed Modawell had allowed her dog off-leash outside of her apartment, in direct violation of section 5.7, page 2 of Chinook Villa’s Lease/House Rules. The document told her she had 72 hours to “permanently remove” her dog from the apartments or suffer “termination of your Lease Agreement and the Owner exercising their right to take legal action against you for material breach of the Lease Agreement.”

The incident in which the alleged breach occurred was described in full as follows:

“On July 1, 2016 at approximately 3:00 PM your dog was observed on Chinook Villa property, by two other tenants, off the leash and advancing aggressively towards another leashed dog, making contact with the dog causing the owner of the dog to quickly pick up his dog to prevent injury from your unleashed dog.”

Modawell tells a different story.

What she said

In her friend’s Chinook Villa apartment on Tuesday — two days after her lease was set to be terminated — Modawell said she was simply walking her 10-year-old Bichon Poodle, Chaz, in front of the building on the day in question when he spotted a familiar black dog, Sheba, on the patio near the side doors. Chaz jumped forward but was firmly on a leash, Modawell said, and began barking at Sheba, who barked back. The dogs did not make contact, according to her.

Modawell said the interaction was harmless, but not unexpected, given the history of the dogs.

She said the other dog “had taken Chaz down three times in the past,” and that each attack resulted in injuries to Chaz that required sutures to close up the wounds. Modawell had kept that information to herself until now, she said, in an effort to be discreet.

“I’m not a rat so I didn’t tell on him,” Modawell said. “I moved in here to be alone and not to play kindergarten.”

To avoid further confrontation during the July 1 incident, Modawell said she turned around with Chaz and entered the building through the main door. The owner of the other dog followed her, she said, then asked her if everything was “OK.” She said, ‘yes,’ but reminded the man of Chaz and Sheba’s past altercations. She said he acknowledged his dog’s previous behavior and the tenants parted ways.

Modawell said she had received multiple warnings against letting Chaz off his leash in the last two years, which had since occurred, but only for the occasional potty stop out the back door of the apartments, during which time he did not interact with other dogs. After receiving a phone call regarding the issue from the managing company, Riverstone Residential Group, Modawell said she has been in total compliance for the last year and a half.

“He doesn’t step outside the (apartment) door without his leash on,” she said. “He is perfect, perfect — the perfection of dogs.”

Modawell said Chaz is not only important to her as a companion, but also as a kind of service dog. She said she got Chaz when he was 11 weeks old, and had him trained as a puppy to wake her up in a potential emergency. Between her sleep apnea and chronically low blood sugar, Modawell said she needs Chaz to jump on her chest during the night if she goes more than about 30 seconds without breathing, which has happened.

“He’s my lifeline,” she said.

A canine companion

As Modawell was being interviewed on Tuesday, Chaz laid quietly on an ottoman near his owner, occasionally asking to be pet with a gentle nudge. When taken out behind the apartments that afternoon, on a leash, Chaz noticed another dog being walked about 200 yards away, and let loose a few shrill barks, but did not attempt to leave his owner’s lap.

Back inside, Chaz and Modawell paid a visit to their friend, Geneal Spaulding, and her kitten, Pepper. Chaz remained on his leash, and while the kitten appeared wary at first, she eventually pounced at the dog, who promptly hid under his owner’s skirt.

Spaulding and Modawell laughed.

“Chaz is one of the best dogs I’ve ever known; everybody thinks he’s so sweet,” Spaulding said.

Another Chinook Villa resident, Frank Garcey, also spoke well of the little white dog.

“He’s a real mild puppy. We’ve never had any problem with him, never,” Garcey said.

In the four years Garcey’s lived at the apartment, he said he’s never seen Sheba and Chaz get into a real fight, just the kind of benign tussles all dogs occasionally get into. He and at least two other male, Chinook Villa residents said Sheba seemed “a little more aggressive” than Chaz, but that the issue was being overblown.

“It’s like two people having a little bit of controversy, and that’s no reason for eviction,” Garcey said.

A personal issue?

Modawell said she’s not sure what Sheba’s owner reported after the July 1 incident — he was unreachable for comment — but suspects her eviction has more to do with personal animosity between her and Cudia, whom she said was present during the July 1 incident.

“There is bad blood between the manager and myself. We don’t care for each other, we just don’t, but that’s not a reason to displace someone who is my age, completely disabled and has a dog and a house full of stuff and no car,” she said.

Cudia did not confirm or deny her presence at the scene and declined to comment on any aspect of the case, though she did emphasize the lease/house rule of keeping pets leashed at all times. She said she didn’t know what kind of dog the male owner involved in the incident had, but that pets at Chinook Villa are supposed to weigh 15 pounds or less. To her knowledge, no Chinook Villa resident had broken that rule, she said.

“Most folks just like a smaller dog,” Cudia said.

She forwarded further interview and information requests to her superior in Boise, Idaho, regional manager John Hess. Hess works for Riverstone Residential Group, the company that manages Chinook Villa, though the apartments are owned by the Seattle-based AK Preservation Chinnorth Limited Partnership.

Hess also said he was “not gonna be able to share any information” about the case.

“I have to protect the confidentiality of those individuals that may or may not live at our properties,” he said.

Next steps

Modawell said she intends to pay her rent for this month, even though she has been locked out of her apartment. She said she’s looking for other places to live, but has thus far been unsuccessful in finding another apartment that fits her budget and accepts her dog. She said she would stay at Chinook if Chaz could too.

“I can stay, she (Cudia) will charge me nothing for another dog, but it ain’t that dog,” Modawell said, pointing to Chaz.

Modawell has two grown sons in the area, she said, but neither has room or time to look after her, what with both of them working long hours in construction and one expecting a grandchild soon.

“I’m hoping to find a place by the winter, and if not I’ll be sleeping on the streets,” Modawell said.

Spaulding and the friend Modawell is staying with both voiced concerns about being “next,” getting kicked out for their pets and their association with Modawell.

Modawell said she’s hoping her unfortunate situation will be a warning for other seniors considering specialized housing like Chinook Villa to tread carefully.

“All I want is for this to be brought to light and to show what happens to us elderly, that when a corporation, when they’re doing you the ‘favor’ of letting you move in for a cheaper price, they own you,” she said.

Contact reporter Caitlin Skvorc at 352-2266 or caitlin.skvorc@frontiersman.com.