Lauren Gold, Pasadena Star-News
About 100 Occupy protesters seeking to reverse an eviction gathered Tuesday outside the Pasadena house of a Bank of America executive in the San Rafael neighborhood.
The protest began at 4 p.m. at the house of bank executive Raul Anaya, and specifically focused on the plight of homeowner Dirma Rodriguez.
“Every crook in history has victimized her and it’s shocking,” said Lydia Breen, 64, of Altadena, a Hurricane Katrina evacuee who relocated to Southern California.
No one was arrested during Tuesday’s protest, which was one of many across the nation surrounding the annual Bank of America Shareholder’s meeting today in Charlotte, North Carolina. No Pasadena police personnel were present at the scene.
Rodriguez’s home was foreclosed after she allegedly fell behind on loan payments on a second for her house in the West Adams district of Los Angeles.
Rodriguez was evicted March 26, but allowed back into her home that night after Occupy protesters rallied in her support, said Occupy member Cheryl Aichele.
Rodriguez, a widow, said the process has been difficult, full of frustration and tears.
“I want my home legally returned to me and I want fair payments and an end to this horrific situation that me and my family have had to go through,” Rodriguez said in Spanish translated by Occupy member Julie Levine. “I felt terrible, I couldn’t sleep worrying that I was going to lose my home and what would happen to my daughter.”
Rodriguez’s 27-year-old daughter, Ingrid Ortiz, has toxoplasmosis cerebral palsy. Rodriguez said she was granted a loan modification and began making payments but then the bank sent her checks back and sold her home at a foreclosure auction in September.
Levine said Rodriguez was following the bank’s instructions to make loan payments into a special account when they “sold the house out from under her.”
