A former police officer and his wife began trial this week for allegedly causing some $210,000 of damages to their $1 million house after their credit union, San Diego Metropolitan CU, foreclosed on them two years ago.
Doors, gates, countertops, cabinets, appliances, light fixtures, chandeliers and air conditioners were among the items removed from the house, many of which were found in the days after the rampage in storage space rented by Robert and Monique Acosta. Walls and carpet had been spray-painted and trees and bushes were thrown into the pool and whirlpool spa.
Credit union representatives estimate the couple caused $165,000 in damages and stole $44,000 worth of appliances and fixtures. In their zeal to strip their foreclosed home of value, the couple went so far as to have a banister smashed out with a sledgehammer so they could remove their portable bar, a prosecutor told jurors.
"It looked like a war scene," said the prosecutor during opening remarks.
Robert Acosta and Monique Acosta are both charged in state court with carrying away or disposing of items from a mortgaged or foreclosed property, which carries a penalty of up to four years in jail.
A lawyer for the Acostas argued the couple had simply removed property that legally belonged to them, such as a Spanish-style bar in a second-story recreation room, which they had installed.
But prosecutors assert that the Acostas went far beyond taking personal belongings from their home.
A representative from the credit union discovered the mess when she inspected the home June 15, 2010, the day after the Acostas moved out.
Prosecutors displayed photographs taken by a witness at a neighboring home showing the move-out. One picture shows Monique Acosta apparently chopping down a small cypress tree in the backyard as her young daughter looks on.
