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Company wants city to can unethical officer

Scott Niezen, a community service officer charged with code enforcement in the city of Medford, waged unwarranted war against Real Property Group, Inc. (RPG) and its president, Kevin Curtin, in 2013.

In police reports and other public statements, Niezen falsely cited RPG for property code violations and also waged a vendetta against Curtin.

Now RPG is fighting back – it wants Medford to fire Niezen and apologize for its efforts to smear the company and endanger the safety of Curtin.

Extensive documentation – much of it created not by RPG but by Niezen and other Medford officials – shows how Niezen’s lies literally endangered people, including a toddler, as he repeatedly smeared RPG in police reports as well as the press.

His lies also inspired a social media mob, members of which actually made physical threats online against Curtin. Niezen went so far as to enlist local TV station KDRV NewsWatch 12 in his efforts to lie, and even allowed a toddler child to be endangered by possible electrocution from an exposed outlet in the process.

A RealDefender investigation revealed a shocking level of discourtesy, dishonesty and sheer laziness by Niezen, who his own superior admitted may not have any training to be a code enforcement officer. His own police reports reveal a stunning lack of care for minimal standards of code enforcement – virtually none of his citations contain details about the alleged violations, nor advice on how they are to be fixed. One could be forgiven for wondering what exactly Niezen was hired by Medford to do – was it simply to write citations without providing proof of the alleged violations? Or to recklessly endanger children and adults?

To this day, Scott Niezen continues to collect a paycheck from the city, a fact that should alarm honest citizens, who should also be concerned that the Medford Police not only hired him but worked to cover up his behavior. He has never apologized for what he did, nor have his superiors, who covered for him. But what comes around goes around, and it’s time for Niezen to be called out for his actions.

Complaints cover-up

In 2015, Curtin, president of Real Property Group, Inc., filed 340 complaints against Niezen. The complaints centered on Niezen’s behavior during a 2013 investigation of alleged property code violations at an RPG rental residence. All the violations were eventually dismissed by the Medford police, who in the process worked with TV broadcast station KDRV NewsWatch 12 to defame and libel RPG and Curtin.

Despite extensive, indeed, exhaustive documentation of the complaints’ validity, to this date, the Medford police department has failed to include the number of complaints RPG’s president filed in any of its annual reports, a violation of its own policy. For that matter, the police have never even bothered to explain why they dismissed them.

Keep in mind, the Medford police include even complaints they consider “unfounded” in all its annual report counts – so the question is, why did the Medford police suddenly decide Curtin never filed the complaints? Could it be to do so might mean the police department looks corrupt in the public eye? What, exactly, is the department hiding? Why did it violate its own written policy that states each complaint must be addressed individually?

Why we’re speaking up

It’s likely the crime-ridden city of Medford would love this embarrassing case to go away, as it exposes just how poorly one of its departments was run. However, the lazy and dismissive attitude city officials have taken toward RPG’s dispute with the city cannot go unpunished. To not hold the city of Medford accountable for what it did to a legitimate citizen as well as a private citizen is to fail the essential point of democracy – to create governments that help the people, not harm the people.

RPG spent tens of thousands of dollars on legal fees defending itself from Niezen’s crusade to destroy its name, and the experience compelled RPG to sell off its rental homes in Medford. In the process, the Medford Police Department, which employs Niezen, covered up his crimes by failing to address hundreds of complaints against him as well as failing to tell the public the complaints had been made.

“Scott Niezen has violated Medford Police procedure hundreds of times,” Curtin says, pointing to a thick folder filled with hundreds of pages detailing the mendacity of Niezen and the Medford police’s efforts to cover up his incompetence. “He lacks the capability and training required to be a code enforcement officer,” Curtin adds, citing numerous instances in which Niezen falsely cited RPG for property code violations, refused to clarify issues he had with the company and worked hand in hand with a local TV station to publicly defame Curtin and RPG.

Where is the accountability?

Early in 2019, Curtin and RPG asked the Oregon Dept. of Justice to investigate the Medford Police Department on charges of police misconduct and corruption. Not only did the department’s behavior cost RPG thousands of dollars in legal fees, the department’s reckless and tragicomically stupid pursuit of unfounded property code citations played a direct hand in smearing Curtin’s reputation, he says.

“The complaints were not limited to serious violations of Medford Police Policy, but also included violations of civil rights,” Curtin wrote in a letter earlier this year to Oregon Attorney General Ellen F. Rosenblum. “By fraudulently disposing the complaints as unfounded, the Medford Police have exposed a high level of misconduct and corruption within their police department.  The behavior of the Medford Police Department has put all the citizens of Medford at risk.”

Curtin would also like to see the Medford police exposed for their corrupt cover-up of Niezen’s malice and incompetence.

“The Medford Police Department cannot be trusted,” he says. “They do not report data consistently, share accurate information, and they resist providing any information at all – all while boasting transparency.”

Great Scott!

It all starts with Scott Niezen, who lied again and again about RPG and Curtin.

Niezen, a community service officer charged with code enforcement, displayed a stunning lack of common courtesy as well as property code knowledge in his efforts to embarrass RPG and Curtin. A cursory read of his citations is a mental walk through a minefield of malice and mendacity, given many are vague, unsubstantiated, or characterized by outright falsehoods.

The battle between RPG and the Medford police began on May 23, 2013, when Niezen issued eight citations to RPG regarding a home the company was leasing to Chelsea Taimane Carpenter, and her children, at 2762 Crater Lake. The property was a single-family home with a two-car garage, storage shed, and patio, for which rent was $750 monthly.

RPG notes that prior to contacting the city, Carpenter had never called nor wrote letters to RPG asking for any repairs related to her complaints. When contacted on her Facebook page, Carpenter acknowledged being contacted by RPG for this story, but did not respond to further requests for comment.

The woman’s then-boyfriend, Kentrell Collins, also lived there, even though he was not on the lease. Curtin says Collins claimed he did not live there, but his company’s own investigation revealed Collins was routinely receiving mail at the residence, and had also named 2762 Crater Lake as his address on his driver’s license.

Collins also did not respond to a request for comment on this story.

Curtin notes that Carpenter was a difficult tenant to deal with almost from the moment RPG rented the property to her, on Oct. 3, 2012. Indeed, throughout her tenancy, people sent to do work on the house reported an unpleasant environment in which to work and a tenant who sometimes didn’t even let them in when they arrived, despite the fact it was her complaints that caused them to show in the first place.

“Early in the tenancy, (Carpenter) called the landlord and made multiple demands to have the carpeting replaced,” Curtin wrote then Police Chief Tim George in a 2015 letter. “She left long voicemails demanding new carpeting and stating that she wanted to pick out the color.”

Curtin told her RPG would not be installing new carpeting and asked her to stop leaving voicemails about the issue. “The tenant yelled and cursed at Mr. Curtin, then hung up the phone,” the letter states.

On May 22, 2013, Carpenter called Medford code enforcement making several allegations about the property, and the next day Niezen conducted an inspection at the Crater Lake house.

After visiting the Crater Lake home, Niezen issued eight citations – and he did not give RPG the requisite 30 days to fix the alleged code violations before being cited, but demanded immediate compliance, which Curtin notes was a departure from police policy. Indeed, standard code enforcement practices stipulate that property owners be given anywhere between 30 to 60 days to abate code violations, according to a number of experts.

Niezen went even one step further, attacking Curtin in writing in a May 23 police report: “Being as how Mr. Curtin has been an ongoing problem for (code enforcement) I elected to cite him immediately for the violations.”

There’s just one problem with this statement, Curtin says – he can’t understand why he was an “ongoing problem.” He speculates that Niezen may be referring to an earlier instance when he cited a property owned by another of Curtin’s companies for alleged lack of heating. Turns out the tenant simply failed to ask the local utility company to unlock a utility box after the property was rented and turn on the heat. Curtin believes that Niezen was embarrassed by this incident and may have sought revenge against him.

Lack of substance

RPG also notes that a number of the citations issued by Niezen on May 23, 2013 had no substance to them. Indeed, the narrative section of each of the citations were all left blank, and Niezen did not even offer suggestions as to how to abate the citations, which is one of his duties as a code enforcement office.

For example, Niezen alleged that the house lacked “adequate heating.” However, he never tested the house’s heating system, nor explained how he had come to this conclusion.

“Niezen wrote this citation based on the tenants telling him that they had no heat or air conditioning,” RPG contends. “The system is programmed by a thermostat – and the heating unit will not go on unless it’s cold. Being that Scott Niezen had no training in heating and air conditioning or any acceptable credentials to be a code enforcement officer, there was no way he could have determined the functionality of the heating unit.”

Curtin adds that given it was late spring, when the weather in Oregon turns warm, even hot, a thermostat programmed system would not be on anyway.

Furthermore, when Accu-Temp Mechanical visited June 3, 2013, to inspect the heating system, it found it to be in good working order.

Electrical – what’s that?

Niezen also wrote two citations for “hazardous electrical” noting his belief that “wiring for the living room is faulty, switches/outlets need cover plates.”

This citation exemplifies Niezen’s vague approach to code enforcement, RPG notes.

“For which violation was the citation written?” RPG says. “Wiring in the living room? Did the switches or outlets need cover plates? And if it’s just one or the other, then it should be just one citation.”

Furthermore, RPG adds, Niezen never bothered to check with RPG about the building’s history prior to writing his citations.

“Photographs taken before the tenant moved in show that there was a cover plate on the light switch,” RPG says. “It is obvious the tenant removed the cover plate – the tenant painted the living room … and obviously the tenant removed them before painting. So, the tenant failed to re-install all of the light switch/outlet covers.”

On June 9, 2013, a service worker hired by RPG made several repairs to the Crater Lake home, including rewiring the switch and outlets in the living room.

Niezen also stated his May 23 inspection found “hazardous plumbing in the home,” noting the “kitchen faucet leaks and needs to be secured, toilet leaks, outdoor faucet leaks.” Niezen doesn’t specify which of the citations covers which alleged violation — indeed, his narrative on the citations is blank.

The repair worker hired by RPG replaced the kitchen faucet, replaced a wax ring on the toilet and redid the drainpipes under the sink on June 9, RPG says, adding the outdoor faucet never leaked.

“It dripped for a few minutes after being turned off,” RPG states. “This is called draining. It’s actually designed to function this way.”

RPG also states Collins later admitted, on videotape, that he was not fully tightening the shut-off valve on the outdoor faucet because he was concerned it would wear out the rubber washer and stop it from dripping.

Niezen also displayed a reckless disregard for simple, easily found facts, in his citations. For example, he calls RPG an LLC, or “limited liability company” when in reality it’s a corporation. He also assumes Curtin owns RPG.

“A corporation does not have an owner,” RPG states. “There is no possible experience Scott Niezen could have to allow him to know the shareholders of a private corporation.”

Retaining wall

Niezen even cited RPG for a broken retaining wall outside the house. One problem – the wall was on the other side of the property’s fence and was not located on RPG property and was actually the city of Medford’s responsibility to maintain. How do we know this? Niezen acknowledges in his reports that a city official told him this. Nonetheless, he still cited RPG for this and then lies about the fence, which had been installed in 2012. In his report, Niezen claims the fence was not there when he first inspected the property.

“There is no way Niezen could have taken the pictures he took on May 23, 2013, without climbing over the fence,” RPG maintains. “There is absolutely no way he could have missed the fence. Niezen is outright lying again.”

Nowhere Man

What’s even more mind-boggling about Niezen’s citations is how little guidance he provides to RPG in terms of addressing the alleged code violations.

“Real Property Group Inc. sent a letter dated June 10, 2013, to Scott Niezen requesting the photos from the May 23, 2013, inspection … in order to get clarification on the required repairs,” RPG states. “The letter was ignored.”

This violates not only Medford police policy, RPG states, it also violates Oregon’s Uniform Housing Code, which mandates code enforcement officials not only provide a description of the conditions allegedly violating the code but also the actions a property owner needs to take to come into compliance.

Readers should note Curtin’s attorney actually had to file a discovery request for the photos, which were not provided to RPG until AFTER the tenants were long gone, in June, 2014.

Summer bummer

Seeking to make sure the Crater Lake property was in compliance with the law, an RPG attorney on July 24 informed the city that all needed repairs had been made.

“It was Scott Niezen’s responsibility to the property to inspect it once he was notified that the repairs had been made,” RPG says. “According to his own case text, Niezen did not go back to the property to inspect it.”

An RPG attorney sent another letter Sept. 5, 2013, to a Medford official asking for a “detailed list of repairs that have not been completed.” Niezen responded on Sept. 27 with a letter stating, “I spoke with the resident at 2762 Crater Lake recently. She informed me that that violations have not been resolved.”

Niezen then states that “forced air/heat is inoperative … (the) electrical circuit supplying the living room is faulty,” and that there are “multiple plumbing leaks.”

Keep in mind no record exists of Niezen having actually visited the property after between May and early November to determine all this — this was something he wrote down because the tenant told him it was true.

“It was Scott Niezen’s job to go to the property to inspect it after the 30-day abatement period and also at any time of being notified that the repairs had been completed,” RPG states. “Niezen refused to do any of this.”

Pulitzer prize winning this ain’t

Carpenter continued to make more complaints to the city about her rental, and Niezen finally came back to inspect on Nov. 11, 2013. Despite the work documented by RPG on the home, Carpenter falsely claimed, on TV, that no repairs had ever been made to her home. RPG has ample documentation it can provide interested journalists about this fact.

For the Nov. 11 visit, Niezen invited a reporter from the TV station KDVR Newswatch 12 – never bothering to seek permission to film on the property from RPG.  In fact, as of early April 2019, readers could still see the libelous report on YouTube, but it appeared to have been removed by mid-April, possibly in response to inquiries from RPG about why the station never did a follow-up on its initial story.

The one — and only report — KDVR broadcast about this case painted Curtin as a heartless landlord who was going to allow the tenant and her children to suffer from a cold winter because RPG had not fixed her heating – even though RPG’s visit the next day, Nov. 12, to her home determined the heat was actually working (and had actually been working the whole time Carpenter lived there).

“The Medford city attorney’s office is accusing a local landlord of forcing families – some with toddlers – to go without heat during the winter,” Anchor Brian Morton solemnly intones before adding that RPG has a “history with code enforcement,” without explaining what that history is. To date, RealDefender has been unable to find any documents explaining why Niezen or the city of Medford publicly stated RPG had a “history with code enforcement.” For starters, Niezen had been working as a code inspector for less than a year (DO WE KNOW THIS FOR SURE?), and Curtin wonders just how much experience he brought to the job.

What then followed is a news report, if it can be called that, that violated the most elementary ethical principles of journalism.

Reporter Justin Bourke states that the “entire home” at Crater Lake property is heated by a “single space heater” and that “code enforcement says that morally this is the worst case of landlord neglect they’ve ever seen.”

Well that was fair and balanced. Bourke just leaves this statement hanging out there, not explaining who said it, why they said it, what documentation they had to prove what they said and not asking whether it was actually true or not.

Collins himself admitted the next day to RPG that the heat was working in the home.

So much for toddlers freezing through the winter.

If that’s not bad enough, Curtin accuses Niezen of “outright lying” to Newswatch 12, although given how sloppy the reporter involved seemed to be, it’s doubtful Bourke would have figured out Niezen was lying, or, for that matter, that the sky was blue, unless Niezen told him so.

For example, Curtin says, Niezen’s own notes from June 25, 2013 – which Bourke could have obtained merely by asking Niezen or RPG — confirm that the home’s sink was repaired. However, Niezen told Newswatch 12 that RPG had ignored that and other violations.

Interestingly, Collins, the unauthorized tenant, also appears in the TV report and makes no mention of the fact he is not an authorized tenant. Bourke essentially takes the word of an illegal occupant as gospel truth. Of course, finding this out would entail him actually asking questions, not just regurgitating Niezen’s talking points, but that’s far from the strangest – or most disturbing — moment in the report.

The report contains a segment in which the camera operator filmed one of the tenant’s toddlers moving toward an exposed electrical outlet. Readers should note the outlet was not broken prior to Carpenter moving in, and RPG has a photo to prove so. Curtin says both the news team and Niezen endangered the child’s life in order to claim that RPG had neglected to fix the outlet – “Niezen just stands there while a child runs toward a broken outlet.”

Let that sink in – three grown men – Collins, Bourke and Niezen – allowed a small child to run toward an exposed electrical outlet. They literally took a chance on a child’s life to prove their “point,” whatever it was.

But wait, there’s more!

The news report was the first time RPG had even heard of the outlet, Curtin says.

“If not for the newscast, RPG may not have been able to locate the broken outlet,” the company states, noting the home had 50 outlets in it. “Scott Niezen did not give, at the very least, the simple description of it being in the living room.”

Indeed, Niezen doesn’t even bother to cover his tracks when it comes to how the outlet was found, writing in one report that the toddler child “located” the outlet. Well at least the toddler apparently had more code enforcement training than Niezen.

Curtin adds that while Newswatch 12’s Justin Bourke claims the station “reached out multiple times during the day” to him as well as his attorney, in reality the station made only one attempt to contact him for rebuttal, by voicemail, about an hour before the story aired.

“The station has never apologized for its ambush report and the blatant falsehoods its anchor and reporter spewed,” Curtin says.

Meanwhile, the station’s Facebook page “even contained threats against my personal being from viewers upset by the story that was broadcast.”

Neither Newswatch 12 nor Bourke responded to requests for comment on this story. However, RPG would like the station and Niezen to publicly apologize for their actions.

“At any time prior to the newscast, Scott Niezen could have re-inspected the property and notified the property owner of any needed repairs,” RPG states. “Any new damage discovered on the day of the newscast should have been brought to the attention of RPG through proper procedure.”

Not only did Niezen ambush RPG and Curtin with the help of Newswatch 12, he also issued 11 more citations to RPG for alleged property code violations at the Crater Lake property. As he had done so before, Niezen displayed an incredible capacity to get the facts wrong as well as not fulfill his duties as a code inspector working with property owners to fix problems, RPG says.

The citations, mailed out Nov. 12, 2013, came in an envelope “with nothing else enclosed,” RPG states. “There was no letter, inspection report, photographs, location or description of what the required action was attached. The Oregon Uniform Housing Code requires that (inspectors) provide a statement with a brief and concise description of the conditions, as well as a statement of the required action.”

Among Niezen’s citations he made was one concerning the home’s kitchen sink. This is one of the more mysterious citations he issued, RPG states.

“According to Niezen’s own notes, the sink had been fixed prior to June 25, 2013,” RPG states, an all the more confusing conclusion since it’s not quite clear Niezen ever visited the property between May 23 and Nov. 2013.

“He had absolutely no reason to believe that the violation existed,” RPG states. “Niezen blatantly lied in a sworn statement. Niezen lied under penalty of perjury that the violation existed when it did not.”

Furthermore, a video commissioned by RPG and filmed Nov. 12 shows the new faucet and drainpipes, installed June 9, and also shows a dry bowl beneath the pipes, indicating no leakage.

RPG speculates that Niezen may have cited RPG for the faucet being loose. However, the Newswatch 12 report shows the new faucet being shaken violently, which itself is a no-no when it comes to handling any kitchen apparatus.

Niezen also issued a citation for “Plumbing/Bathroom” on Nov. 11, lying once again in his statement that the toilet was in need of repair.

“On Nov. 12, Collins admitted on videotape that the toilet had already been repaired,” RPG states, adding that the company’s inspection revealed the toilet was not leaking.

“Niezen did not inspect the toilet on the newscast,” RPG adds. “If he had, he would have seen that it was not leaking. All he had to do was walk into the bathroom and inspect it.”

And once again, the outdoor “dripping faucet” becomes an issue, with Niezen including it among his Nov. 11 citations. This citation is even stranger than it first appears, as on Nov. 8, Niezen’s own case text states this: “Called water commission regarding the excess water being wasted due to the leak,” Niezen wrote. “Readings on meter/bill do not indicate excessive water use, this (sic) there is not enough evidence for them to take any action.”

So Niezen’s own investigation indicates there’s no leak, but he still cites RPG anyway.

On Nov. 11 Niezen also cited RPG for alleged “lack of heat” in the home – indeed this was the heart of the Newswatch 12 story, that a wicked Dickensian landlord was freezing small children out of sheer neglect – but then even Collins admitted the next day that the heat worked.

And Niezen once again shows an uncanny ability to not even justify his sloppiness.

“Scott Niezen refused to provide the inspection report,” RPG states. “He was issuing citations to malign the property owner and the property.”

Garbage in, garbage out

Niezen also cited RPG for alleged garbage violation – although, as per his modus operandi vis a vis RPG, he’s not specific at all as to what he means.

RPG maintains Niezen didn’t even cite the right party in his citation – it’s up to a tenant to take care of the garbage, not the property owner.

“The owner provided the tenant with a 35-gallon trash receptacle and had continuously paid for weekly trash pickup,” RPG states, providing proof through a statement from Rogue Disposal and Recycling.

Niezen claimed in his case text, “There is (sic) still some bags of garbage in the back building that were here when the tenants moved in (they are only provided a small can and usually don’t have room to add to it.)”

The “small can” was the 35-gallon receptacle, and despite her apparent penchant for complaining about the house to anyone other than the actual owner, Carpenter actually never contacted RPG to request a larger trash can (which RPG would not have been legally mandated to provide anyway, given Medford only mandates receptacles hold 30 gallons in properties of a size similar to Crater Lake).

Medford also dragged its heels responding to RPG’s request for clarification of Niezen’s citation, not bothering to provide RPG with photographs of the Nov. 11 inspection until April 22, 2014, a whopping five months after the inspection took place.

All this while Newswatch 12’s report had garnered numerous negative comments about both RPG and Curtin on the station’s Facebook page, up to and including veiled and not so veiled physical threats. Finally, the long-awaited photos taken by Niezen arrived, and included one of a few bags of garbage in the shed.

“Beyond the fact that it is ludicrous for the tenant to say that she rented a home with a shed full of household garbage and even more ludicrous for anyone to believe it, a March 4, 2014 video shows Carpenter and Collins were responsible for the garbage.”

The proof? RPG found a milk container in one of the bags, with a Dec. 2013 expiration, AFTER Carpenter moved in; a Les Schwab receipt dates May 23, 2013; a bill with Collins’ name on it; a receipt from Champs with Carpenter’s name on it as well as an unopened letter addressed to Carpenter.”

“Had Scott Niezen conducted a thorough investigation, he would have seen that the garbage belonged to the tenant,” RPG states.

Making ‘contact’

You have to give Niezen credit for one thing – he never fails to stop attempting to justify his incompetence.

After essentially slandering RPG and Curtin on the air, he issued even more citations, and wrote in a police report dated Nov. 20, 2013, that he had contacted both Carpenter, as well as her attorney, Kristofer Womack, and that “no repairs have been made.” Wow!

Here’s the record: Invoices from Pacific Electrical Contractors, Drain Pros and Long Mechanical all show that work was done on the Crater Lake property Nov. 13-19, prior to Niezen claiming no work had been done.

“It is unclear why Carpenter lied about the repairs,” RPG states. “Nevertheless, Niezen had an obligation to inspect the home prior to writing citations. This is malicious prosecution and another attempt to defame the property owner.”

Yes, indeed, there’s no indication that Niezen actually inspected the Crater Lake property after the NewsWatch report, and then he outright lies when stating a property manager had refused to fix the home up “upon seeing the extent of the violations.”

“Ron Bost of B & B Property Management will testify that he never said that he would refuse to take the job due to the condition of the house,” RPG states. “He never spoke to Niezen at all regarding the home.”

Curtin doesn’t mince words when it comes to Niezen.

“The position of code enforcement officer is a serious one,” he says. “It is not a big joke. It is paramount to that of a police officer or a firefighter. People’s lives depend on the performance of code enforcement. Scott Niezen’s incompetence has put citizen’s lives at risk.”

Here comes the mob

If Niezen and Newswatch 12 wanted to destroy RPG’s reputation as well as that of Curtin, their efforts paid off. Following the report’s broadcast and its posting on the station’s Facebook page, viewers reacted overwhelmingly in a negative manner. As of June 25, 2019, the comments were still posted on the station’s Facebook page, although the broadcast story itself is no longer available.

Several readers called Curtin a “slumlord” and some even made threats against him or noted they wished that physical harm would come to him. Here are just a few of the comments Facebook readers made about Curtin and RPG.

James Rothstein: “Lesson learned: don’t rent from Kevin Curtin or Real Property Group.”

Justin Sane: “The Landlord just needs an attitude adjustment followed up by a smack down! Trust me that usually solves the problem.”

Linda Marie Kindt: “What a loser this landlord is i hope people quit paying there rent (sp). The law will be on there (sic) side they can take the jerk to court.”

Robert Boyd: “I hope landlord will be in jail or hell!!!”

Bonnie Hamlett: “This is such BS. How can this man get away with this and who’s the scumbag who’s defending him. They should shut him down. If the police and courts prevented him from renting these properties out, he’d fix them real quick.”

RealDefender contacted each of the people listed above through Facebook. Only one responded, Bonnie Hamlett, who in May 2019 said she still stood by her comment. Mind you she made this statement despite the fact she was provided with proof the Newswatch 12 story was essentially false.

All this goes to show how one, repeat, one TV news story, no matter how poorly sourced or reported, can nonetheless so convince a member of the public it’s true he or she would rather believe it than truth itself.

Curtin adds that the social media reaction caused him to be concerned for his safety, noting that Niezen recklessly published Curtin’s home address in a publicly available police report.

“After going on the news, telling outright lies, making defamatory statements about Real Property Group and me personally, Niezen published my home address in a police report that can be obtained by anyone,” Curtin says. “Perhaps Niezen did this in hope that I would be assaulted.”

Curtin also noted his employees were shocked by the newscast and couldn’t believe it and that he’s had to deal with the fallout from Niezen and Newswatch 12’s misinformation campaign for years. The one-two punch delivered by Niezen and Newswatch 12 to his name eventually played a role in Curtin’s decision to sell his residential rental properties in Medford.

Show Medford the money!

Carpenter’s rental agreement was eventually terminated in early 2014 for lying about having Collins there, but the city of Medford continued to pursue RPG through the first half of the year, offering to settle all 28 citations issued by Niezen for $1,000.

Then it dropped that figure to $300.

Finally, on June 18, 2014, City Prosecutor Kevin R. McConnell dismissed all 28 citations.

So let that sink in – Scott Niezen spent a good portion of 2013 racking up citations against RPG and went so far as to slander its president, Kevin Curtin, on TV. Nonetheless, Niezen’s own employer, the city of Medford, finally admitted it couldn’t fine RPG dime one.

Complaints cover-up

Given all the nonsense to which Niezen subjected RPG and Curtin, it’s understandable that Curtin would want some sort of restitution. So, he did what any citizen in his shoes would do – he complained to the police department. By doing so he inadvertently revealed that the police don’t even follow their own policies when it comes to addressing complaints.

First off, getting the reports was a royal pain. In mid-December of 2017, RPG requested a copy of all of the previous issues of the annual reports. In mid-Jan. 2018, the office administrator told RPG the oldest report they still had was 2010.

None of the reports are easily available online, despite being public records that should be easily accessible by the public. RPG had to wait a full month, and send multiple emails, before receiving a response from the department.

Additionally, in Dec. 2016, RPG asked when the 2017 annual report would be published. The person who responded did not identify themselves and did not know when it would be available. On August 2, 2018, RPG asked again when the report would be published, and got no answer.

On August 7, RPG sent another email asking when it would be published – the response, again from an unidentified person, said it would be available on the website, but not when. Then RPG asked again that same day and did not get a response. On the 10th, RPG sent a fourth email asking for the publication date. It was ignored.

Let’s not put those in the report

Curtin says he plans to sue the city for lying to the public by covering up the various complaints he’s lodged against the police. The department’s actions amount to an attempt to rip off the taxpaying voting public of information it needs, Curtin adds.

“The 340 complaints were not included in any of the annual reports from 2015 to 2017,” Curtin says, pointing to the reports.

Indeed, the reports for the years in question state the following no. of complaints for these three years as such: 31 in 2017; 37 in 2016; and 63 in 2015.

“By not including these complaints in the annual reports, the Medford Police Department knowingly and willfully presented false information to intentionally mislead the public,” Curtin told the justice dept. “It is a material fact that a minimum of 340 complaints were filed against a member of the Medford Police Department in 2015 and the department lied about it in their reports.”

“It is also a material fact that multiple members of the police department, including the chief of police, were aware of the 340 complaints,” Curtin continues. “There is no excuse for these complaints to have been left out of the annual reports.”

Even if you give the Medford police the benefit of the doubt in this matter, its annual reports still come up short. For example, one might surmise that RPG’s complaints were still “under investigation,” a category introduced by the police in 2016.

“They list two complaints as being ‘under investigation at the end of 2016.’” Curtin says. “This is not accurate. Throughout 2015, 2016 and 2017, Medford Police Sgt. Don Lane was investigating 340 complaints filed against Niezen.”

Indeed, correspondence from Lane proves this. In one missive he acknowledges receiving RPG’s complaints and that the department was investigating them.

When asked questions about Medford police and their complaints policy, the city responded that “multiple complaints raised about a single transaction or situation, or originating from a single complainant, may be addressed via a single letter. It is Medford Police Department policy that each complaint shall receive a disposition, but that does not require a separate piece of paper for each such complaint … If you filed a complaint containing 10 allegations, a single piece of paper explaining that the 10 allegations were determined to be unfounded would constitute the disposition of each of those allegations.”

Curtin doesn’t dispute that RPG’s complaints could have been addressed in a single letter. However, the letter he got back from Sgt. Lane nonetheless still violates Medford’s own policies. He quotes Lane’s letter to prove his point. Dated March 2, 2017, the letter mentions a whopping one complaint out of 340 — and then it doesn’t even specify which complaint was being addressed.

“I have thoroughly reviewed the complaint,” Lane wrote. “As a result of this investigation, I have concluded the following: The complaint filed in regards to Community Service Officer Niezen’s actions and investigation into your property at 2762 Crater Lake Avenue is unfounded.”

“Which one of the 340 complaints is unfounded?” Curtin wrote back in response.

To date, he’s received no reply to his query, and believes the Medford police are getting away with lying to, as well as defrauding, the public.

Lane changes

RPG followed up Lane’s dismissal letter by writing Police Chief Randy Sparacino on March 6, 2017. Noting it took Lane almost two years to respond to the initial complaints, Curtin accused Lane of misrepresentation of his complaints against Niezen. In particular he notes Lane’s dismissal of his “complaint” as opposed to multiple complaints.

“Don Lane is misrepresenting a material fact as there are hundreds of sustainable policy violations committed by Scott Niezen … There is no evidence to substantiate that (all 340 complaints) are unfounded.”

Calling Lane an “embarrassment” and labeling his conduct “disgraceful” Curtin warns in his letter to Sparacino than Lane has set a dangerous example for other police officers.

“The personnel under his command now know they can violate MPD policy as they wish for their own agenda,” Curtin’s letter states. “They can lie, steal, cheat and abuse their authority and not be held accountable for their actions.”

RPG and Curtin also filed several complaints against Lane for his dismissal of Curtin’s complaints against Niezen. Complaints filed against Lane include charges he engaged in misconduct, neglect of duty, and “concealing, attempting to conceal, removing or destroying defective or incompetent work.”

“Don Lane is a dishonest, corrupt man,” Curtin wrote Sparacino. “All that a reasonable person has to do is read the 340 complaints, and they will be disgusted by Scott Niezen’s behavior and Don Lane’s pathetic attempt to cover up that behavior.”

Curtin also notes that Lt. Kerry Curtis of the Medford police acknowledged to him that he didn’t even know if Niezen had ever received training in property code enforcement. Now there’s something to ponder – is the Medford Police Department also covering up the fact it doesn’t even really provide proper training to those inspecting its community’s properties?

Niezen and Lane did not reply to requests for comment on this story.

What’s next

RPG is demanding that Niezen, as well as those who covered for him, be held accountable for their malicious actions. Not only does the company want Niezen relieved of his position, it’s also calling on Oregon to standardize training for code inspectors so that no property owners ever again have to endure the kind of ridiculous and malicious attacks it sustained.

An investigation by RealDefender revealed there are no universal standards either federally or on the state level for residential property code inspectors. Furthermore, the Medford police repeatedly ignored requests for information on Niezen’s training – or lack thereof – in property code enforcement.

Niezen not only abused the power entrusted to him to make false unsubstantiated charges against RPG in his police reports, he went even further than that and got a TV station to slander RPG and Curtin on air, RPG maintains. Indeed, a read through the extensive documentation RPG compiled on Niezen’s work as a code enforcer reveals a stunning record of laziness, thoughtlessness, unwarranted malice and just plain lying, all by an officer of the law.

Curtin sums up his feelings about this case succinctly.

“Scott Niezen admitted in his own report his decision to discriminate against me, a private citizen,” he says. “There cannot be two separate policies – one for Kevin Curtin, and one for everyone else.”