May 24, 2023:
“Coddling Predators and a Pervert Is Becoming An Art Form Here in Cascade Lakes” and “Granddaughters Reported Being Harassed in the Community Pool”
On Thursday, May 18, 2023, the property manager sent out an email blast falsely stating that pepper spray was a weapon. The law says otherwise: it’s not a weapon. Here is the pertinent part of Florida statute 790.001 (3) (a) and (b):
“790.001 Definitions.—As used in this chapter, except where the context otherwise requires:…
(3)(a) “Concealed weapon” means any dirk, metallic knuckles, billie, tear gas gun, chemical weapon or device, or other deadly weapon carried on or about a person in such a manner as to conceal the weapon from the ordinary sight of another person.
(b) “Tear gas gun” or “chemical weapon or device” means any weapon of such nature, except a device known as a “self-defense chemical spray.” “Self-defense chemical spray” means a device carried solely for purposes of lawful self-defense that is compact in size, designed to be carried on or about the person, and contains not more than two ounces of chemical.” [emphasis supplied.]
Equating two ounces of pepper spray, which the law says is a “self-defense chemical spray” and specifically not a weapon, with actual weaponry is not only misleading, it’s downright dangerous and exceedingly reckless in my opinion.
The property manager’s email was also sent out without a majority of the board emailing their consent to it.
This act by some members of the board and the property manager was reckless because they were all given information about what is and what is not a weapon and they continue to ignore it and instead act outside reasonable norms in full knowledge of the true facts, and they actually create a more dangerous atmosphere because they discouraged lawful self-defense (stating that they prefer you don’t carry self-defense chemical spray).
It’s long past the time for certain individuals in positions of authority to stop coddling predators and a pervert and to stop condemning victims. Coddling predators and a pervert is becoming an art form here in Cascade Lakes. Here’s a list of some examples of predatory behavior being allowed to flourish here and the leadership’s response to it:
1. Predator/pervert non-owner Chick Coletta continually and menacingly harassing and chasing an owner around ballroom before, during, and after board meetings with zero response from leadership except for #2 below;
2. The HOA president telling the victim who was being repeatedly and menacingly harassed and chased by the predator/pervert at the board meeting to leave the meeting if she’s scared instead of more appropriately throwing out the non-owner perp who is a continual and ongoing threat;
3. Report of predator/pervert and two other men pinning a widow against the board table after a board meeting while screaming profanities at her with zero response from leadership except for #4 below;
4. HOA president purportedly intimidating the widow by telling her not to report the incident or he won’t help her (and in fact he didn’t help her because she reported it to me and I did the story on it back in July 2022 (hyperlink below), and no one ever disputed the facts);
5. Continual harassment at the pool and in common areas with zero response from leadership;
6. As reported by another resident, predator/pervert harassing residents’ small granddaughters in the community pool (see email below from concerned resident) with zero response from leadership;
7. Webmasters allowing vile messages to remain posted on the message board by the predator/pervert/message board violator with zero response from leadership except for #8 below;
8. Webmasters led by senior webmistress Marion Weil and three board members – president Jeff D. Green, Secretary Pat Nast, and Treasurer Richard Greene - colluding to censure a board member for telling the truth about #7 above;
9. Grievance Committee (with predator Jane Krive on it) giving a pass to said repeat predator/pervert/message board violator and showing complete bias and coddling of the predator/pervert/message board violator (the message board posts speak for themselves and include inappropriate language and personal attacks);
10. Webmasters trying to convince the board not to punish the predator/pervert/message board violator as provided in the bylaws but instead to a grossly lesser extent (a made up 60 days versus 2 years per bylaws);
11. Blacklisting a former board member for noting that the proposed lighter punishment was inappropriate because the predator/pervert/message board violator had multiple previous violations (he had the nerve to challenge the predator and pervert coddlers);
12. Falsely claiming pepper spray is a weapon;
13. E-blasting a misleading communication falsely equating self-defense pepper spray with firearms which is the equivalent of urging residents not to lawfully defend themselves;
14. Predator/pervert continually warning new residents and others to stay away from two gentle people or be demonized and excluded with zero response from leadership except that leadership also tells people the same thing;
15. Allowing predators to chase, come at, and block the egress of their targets with zero response from leadership.
Residents are being deprived of the use and enjoyment of the common areas, which they pay for through mandatory maintenance dues, because of the unending harassment going on, and the fear of it, and that’s something that exposes the HOA to potential liability.
Every member of the Board has a fiduciary responsibility to all members. The Board has the obligation to make sure all members, residents, and guests feel safe and are able to use and enjoy the common areas without the fear of harm and without the constant threatening behavior of others. The majority of the Board has failed miserably in their fiduciary obligations.
Even though the majority of the Board has failed in their fiduciary duties, it is important to note that if any member doesn’t pay for the common areas which that member is deprived of using, a lien will be recorded against that member’s property and a foreclosure will ensue.
Members who don’t feel safe are forced to pay for the common areas where vulgarity, threats, intimidation, and harassment regularly occur.
I have a report of a resident afraid to attend board meetings and residents are afraid to use the pool area and other common areas. Residents are threatened that if they don’t agree to disassociate with other residents they will be shunned, harassed, and bullied to no end, and there are multiple reports of this and it continues.
A resident wrote an email to me, Arthur, and the Board on the morning of May 18, 2023 after reading our May 17, 2023 report (see hyperlink below) but before the property manager sent out her misleading and reckless email. Here is the resident’s email unedited:
“Vicki and Arthur:
Courageous synopsis.
In general, if someone does not respect your speaking out, respect your feelings and boundaries, the problem is not always you, but it is, again in general, usually them!
Although I do not fully agree with all as you and or Arthur sometimes write (or for the most part, anyone's, that's just me), both you and Arthur show genuine courage. No one should think that courage or wisdom is automatically vested because someone sits on our small community's board or partakes in a management function. In fact, when the man holding the gavel and others of authority refuse to control and speak out against well-known bullying and even some community members feel compelled to pack a pistol to the community clubhouse meetings, they I suggest are behaving cowardly. Perhaps even worse I suggest, is when one in authority to do something but doesn't deal with the known bully and act to overcome bullying, they actuality empower the bully.
Chick Coletta constantly bullies and intimidates me, my wife and even my small granddaughters in community public areas, emails and further. Each and every board member is fully aware and has been provided emails, pornographic attachments, etc. It remains an ongoing situation.
A big pat on the back to director Arthur for standing with and up for the protection of his wife and what is right! To some members of the board and others, SHAME ON YOU!”
Arthur reports that this resident’s above email was ignored by the rest of the Board and the property manager. This is the state of affairs here at Cascade Lakes.
Here is the simple three-pronged solution:
1. Have a zero-tolerance policy for this type of behavior, and that includes for everyone, including board members and committee chairpersons;
2. Enforce it expeditiously by the rules and regulations already in existence: first an immediate violation warning notice (or greater depending on the severity of it), and then a suspension and ban of predators, bullies, and harassers from the common areas; and
3. Have a Grievance Committee made up of members with ethics and integrity instead of stacking that committee with a sadistic predator and other individuals who gave preferential treatment to their friend, who capriciously and arbitrarily condemned someone they didn’t like, and who in fact gave this serious predator a complete pass, thus proving their bias and corruption. Start over with this Committee; disband it and start over.
When you have a majority of the Board endorsing this type of abuse, however, there will be no change. When you have board members engaging in abusive behavior, there will be no change. When you have a community who, when given clear choices, chose the same abusers to lead the community instead of those with integrity and ethics, there will be no change.
Here is a message from Arthur, my husband, to the men of Cascade Lakes:
“Yes, it is my responsibility as a man and as a husband to honor and protect my wife at all costs, including hiring law enforcement to protect her.
I remember the first time I met Chick Coletta four years ago in the pool area (he was in the pool along the edge where we were standing). He was bragging and laughing about being suspended from the message board at that time, so this problem has been going on since long before we got here.
I also remember the second time I met Chick Coletta shortly thereafter in the community pool and a male resident disagreed with him on politics, and Chick said to him, ‘what’s the matter with you? You have a pussy between your legs?’ And that’s the moment I knew I wanted nothing to do with him but I always tried to be polite.
Any man/predator/pervert who acts in the way that Chick Coletta has acted toward my wife, and as previously reported another resident widow, and now as reported he acts toward another resident’s wife, and little girls as reported in the pool area, is unacceptable.
Chick on the message board used vile words to describe my wife and he got a pass by the webmasters and the Grievance Committee. He harasses and chases my wife around the ballroom at virtually every single board meeting and is continually allowed to do so by the ruling majority of the Board led by the HOA president.
And Chick also got in my wife’s face as she tried to leave the pool deck on the rare occasion that she was there.
And this all happened on HOA community property and I’m not even addressing the things he has done personally, such as vile, obscene, profanity laced death-wish emails Chick Coletta sent to my wife and others, for example.
And the above resident reported receiving emails with pornographic attachments from Chick Coletta which the resident forwarded to the Board and asked for help, but there was and is no help from the majority of the Board with respect to all of the activities this predator engages in on a regular basis in and on HOA common areas.
By the way, transmitting obscene material is a crime under Florida statute 847.011 and obscenity is defined in statute 847.001 (12). Under Federal law, the Department of Justice follows the three-pronged criteria established in the United States Supreme Court case of Miller v. California, 413 U.S. 15, 24-25 (1973).
The material sent by Chick Coletta that I personally reviewed in my opinion clearly falls under the category of obscenity as prohibited by both state and federal law.
If this were your wife, your mother, your sister, your granddaughter, is this acceptable behavior?
And if you saw it happening to a woman, even if she weren’t your relative or friend, regardless of whether or not you like the woman, why wouldn’t you call out this pig and tell him to knock off this disgusting behavior?
Instead, almost everyone is quiet for fear of being the next target or is giving him a pass and laughing about it.
I’m disgusted that fellow board members allow this to happen and are fanning the flames and in some ways participants, and I’m disgusted that Committee Chairpersons chosen by these board members are allowing this to continue, are fanning the flames, and in some ways participants.
I’m disgusted by this low-class behavior and it is widespread here. And these miscreants attach themselves to new residents like leeches to make sure those residents are turned and absorbed under threat of excommunication.
This trash and filth in this community needs to stop. Where are the real men here? Where are the gentleman? Where is the chivalry? Where is the honor? Where is the respect for women? Where is doing the right thing all the time and not putting it aside for convenience just to fit in with the crowd?”
To be continued.
Your faithful scribe, Vicki Roberts
Hyperlinks:
1. May 17, 2023 Report and May 20, 2022 Update: “Armed Uniformed State Law Enforcement Officer for Protection from Resident Predators at Board Meetings and Residents Packing Pistols”
2. Corruption page
3. July 21, 2022 CL-Update entitled, “Goons Galore? Alleged Serious Harassment of a Widowed Owner by Several Male Residents Including One Self-Proclaimed ‘Number One Bully’ After the July 20, 2022 Board Meeting”
4. June 15, 2022 highlights entitled, “Explosive: Lies Exposed, A Smoking Gun, and Vindication”
5. 2023 Election Report - additional alleged malfeasance details
6. Contact Us page has been updated.