Investigator sides with evicted residents

AUGUSTA – An Illinois couple who own two houses in Maine illegally evicted the residents of a Jonesport house, an investigator with the Maine Human Rights Commission concluded.

The case will heard by the full commission next week.

The investigator concluded the owners discriminated against the tenants because of the drug abuse problems of the son of one of the adult tenants.

Ronald and Sharon Rogowski of Crystal Lake, Ill., own houses in Jonesport and Beals. They bought the four-bedroom, shorefront house on Ferry Road in Jonesport in 1999.

In the summer of 2001, the Rogowskis offered Carol Vose, a professional stylist, and her partner, Anita Ellis, a carpenter, the opportunity to restore and decorate the house.

On Dec. 12, 2001, when the basic restoration work was complete, Vose and Ellis moved into the house. A written rental agreement was prepared but not signed, investigator Barbara Lelli reported, and the Rogowskis understood that Vose and Ellis would rent the house on a long-term basis.

After February 2003, Vose and Ellis stopped paying rent, according to the report. The Rogowskis claim Vose and Ellis were “independent contractors residing at their workplace,” while Vose and Ellis said they were “tenants who exchanged or bartered labor for rent.”

Vose’s 18-year-old son, Jan, lived with the couple for periods in 2002, 2003 and 2004. In early 2004, Jan Vose entered a 28-day inpatient substance abuse treatment center, Lelli reported. He returned to the couple’s home after the treatment.

On June 28, 2004, Sharon Rogowski told Vose and Ellis “that Jan Vose could no longer reside at the Ferry Street house,” the investigator reported, and the man moved out.

On July 6, Sharon Rogowski entered the house with a locksmith, “changed the locks, and told Ms. Ellis that she and Ms. Vose should leave immediately taking only their clothing and personal belongings,” Lelli wrote. When Ellis objected, Rogowski gave the couple 24 hours to move.

On Aug. 3, Vose, her son and Ellis filed a complaint of housing discrimination with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

On Aug. 13, Sharon Rogowski reported to the Washington County Sheriff’s Department that items were missing from the house after Vose, her son and Ellis moved out.

Vose and Ellis claim the theft report was retaliation for the complaint to HUD.

In their complaint to the Maine Human Rights Commission, Vose and Ellis said the Rogowskis “harassed and forced them to move out because of Jan Vose’s disability – mental illness and a history of substance abuse… .”

The Rogowskis told Lelli they were not aware of Jan Vose’s disabilities, but Vose and Ellis reported numerous conversations with the Rogowskis about Jan Vose’s problems with depression, attention deficit disorder, bipolar disorder and substance abuse, all of which are protected disabilities.

To defend asking Jan Vose to leave, then demanding that Ms. Vose and Ellis vacate the house, the Rogowskis repeatedly told the couple they feared the property would be seized by law enforcement officials if drugs were found at the house.

Lelli concluded there was no evidence that Jan Vose ever brought illegal drugs into the Ferry Street house.

The investigator also reported that Rogowski wrote on June 29, 2004, that “we cannot allow our house to be used as a halfway house for a drug addict,” which is an unlawful statement.

The investigator concluded that as a relative of the primary tenant, Jan Vose was entitled to stay at the house and that he was evicted because of his disability.

Lelli concluded that there are reasonable grounds to believe the Rogowskis discriminated against the three tenants by “making unlawful statements based on disability, evicting them on the basis of disability, and making a criminal complaint against them to law enforcement officials” as retaliation.