Minn. mom says cops keep harassing her in hunt for long-gone homeowner
MINNEAPOLIS - A woman says she and her daughter are being harassed by police who are looking for someone who doesn't live at their home, reports CBS Minnesota.
Michelle Voeller says five times over the past ten months, officers have knocked on her door late at night and in the early morning asking for "Mr. Roach."
The alleged harassment began a month after Voeller and her daughter Ashley moved in.
"All of a sudden, someone was pounding on the door really hard," Voeller said. "We stood here and they're pounding and they said, 'Open up, it's the New Brighton Police, we know you're in there.'"
It was all happening at around 11 p.m.
"They would shine the light in our eyes through the windows," Ashley told the station.
When Voeller let officers in, they said they were looking for a "Mr. Roach." When she told them he doesn't live there. They apologized and left, but it wasn't over.
"That was the first of the beginning of my nightmare," Voeller said.
Weeks later, Voeller says police in the Minneapolis-St. Paul suburb stopped by again and did the same thing.
"They would pound on the door - boom, boom, boom - really hard," Voeller said.
She told CBS Minnesota that every few weeks it happens all over again. Voeller says the last time authorities came looking was last Friday, when she says investigators knocked on her door at 4 a.m.
New Brighton Police say there is a warrant out for the man who used to live in the home before Michelle and Ashley moved in. Officers told the station that they stopped by twice and figured out they were wrong, but a spokesman believes members of another law enforcement agency may still have the same address for the man, and are likely the ones knocking on the door in the middle of the night.
"I want it to stop and I don't want them to keep coming to our house when the guy doesn't live here," Ashely said.
Voeller says she suffers from PTSD and has a hard time sleeping. She's angry, frustrated, and embarrassed, but most of all she wants law enforcement to leave her alone. She says she's stopped by the police department three times asking for help to stop the late night visits. She also said that she and her daughter are thinking about moving.
"I moved here because I did my research and I felt safe, but I don't feel safe anymore," Voeller said.