A Temple homeowner has documented alleged neighbor harassment and claims dirty diapers being thrown at his home and human feces smeared on his house.
TEMPLE, Texas — What started as a simple dispute over trash has escalated into what one Temple homeowner calls a “nightmare” involving alleged harassment that includes dirty diapers being thrown at his property, human feces smeared on his walls, and loud music blasting at all hours of the night.
Dylan Martinez says his neighbor has been terrorizing his family for nearly two months, documenting the alleged harassment with multiple security cameras and calling Temple Police Department more than 20 times.
Martinez says the trouble started when he confronted his neighbor about throwing trash on his property line. What he thought would be a simple conversation between neighbors quickly spiraled out of control.
“Originally everything was fine. Everything was good, and dandy and stuff. I would help them out whenever they needed help and stuff like that,” Martinez said.
The relationship soured after Martinez asked his neighbor to clean up trash being blown onto his property. The next day, Martinez says, the harassment began.
“After that it proceeded to the next day. It proceeded from 4 a.m. in the morning, him busting out music and blurring out loud music from 4 a.m. all the way until 7, and just every single day has been like that,” Martinez said.
According to Martinez, the loud music was just the beginning. He alleges his neighbor began throwing dirty diapers from his children onto Martinez’s property, into his koi pond, and at his dogs.
“Then he proceeded from that to swinging and throwing actual diapers from his kids into my property, him throwing it into my ponds, him throwing it at my dogs, throwing human feces onto our windows and walls, cars and all of that,” Martinez said.
The alleged harassment forced Martinez to make drastic changes to protect his property and pets. He moved his prized koi fish from their outdoor pond into a tank inside his house after allegedly throwing dirty diapers into the water.
“I have had to get all my koi out of the pond and then put them inside a tank inside the house until this gets settled out,” Martinez explained. “I don’t wanna lose some of my fish over, you know, diapers or debris getting in there and killing the fish.”
Martinez says the situation has escalated beyond property damage to include threats against his family and animals. He claims his neighbor has pointed a taser at his family while driving by their home.
“It gives me safety concerns to the point where I have told the police department about him throwing threats, him saying what he was going to do to my animals and my livestock in the back,” Martinez said. “Him pointing his taser out and making it go off while he’s driving by towards in front of our family.”
The harassment continues around the clock, with Martinez alleging his neighbor parks his truck with the stereo blasting in the middle of the night while also playing loud music inside his house.
Martinez says he’s called Temple Police more than 20 times over the past month, providing officers with video evidence from his multiple security cameras. However, he says police tell him they can’t take action without witnessing the harassment firsthand.
“They come, they take reports, they give me a little card with a case number, and after that that’s pretty much it. They’ll go and bang on their door and everything and then just call it a day and leave,” Martinez said.
When police arrive to investigate, Martinez says his neighbor simply hides inside his home and refuses to answer the door.
“Half the time I call him about it happening at night with him disturbing the peace where the music is so loud that you can literally hear inside my house and the people across from the inside their houses they can hear it too,” Martinez said.
Despite the ongoing harassment, Martinez says he and his wife attempted to resolve the situation peacefully by walking over to their neighbor’s home to talk things out.
“Me and my wife, there was one time two weeks ago we walked over there and try to see if we can work something out and just, you know, just let bygones be bygones,” Martinez said.
The months of alleged harassment have taken an emotional toll on Martinez and his family. He says only his faith and his wife’s support have kept him from responding physically.
“Makes me angry, frustrated. I want to rather deal with it physically, but I know I’m not able to,” Martinez said. “Honestly, the only reason why I’ve been able to keep my composure is because of my church and of course my wife keeping me having a level head.”
The situation has created what Martinez describes as a “very stressful situation” that’s affecting his family’s quality of life and sense of safety in their own home.
Temple Police confirmed that an officer filed a Class C complaint against the neighbor on the 12th, and the paperwork has been sent to Municipal Court.
Martinez says he’s documenting everything for a potential civil lawsuit, using his security cameras to capture evidence of the alleged harassment. The cameras have recorded what he describes as bizarre behavior, including his neighbor “dancing around” and “stripping” in front of the cameras while “swearing and yelling and screaming.”
“He knows the cameras are there because he has seen and has asked me for help when he lost his kids. He has asked me to see if I could see anything,” Martinez said, referring to an earlier incident.
As the case moves through the court system, Martinez documents alleged incidents and files police reports. He hopes the legal system will provide relief for what he calls an escalating situation that shows no signs of stopping.
“It’s just been escalating from there,” Martinez said. “It’s gotten to the point where this is getting worse and worse.”