Renter Goes to Jail
Troublesome Tenant Harassed Landlords
Ending a nearly yearlong legal ordeal, Santa Barbara Superior Court Judge George Eskin on August 1 sentenced Amanda Leigh Charis to 365 days in Santa Barbara County Jail, a psychological evaluation, and slightly more than $78,000 in restitution. Charis had been convicted of four felony counts, including grand theft and perjury; complainants Jill Ballantyne, Sharon Granoff, and John Maxwell-all former landlords-described Charis’s tenancy in their respective properties as being marked by outrageous behavior.
Upon moving into the residences owned by each of the three complainants, Charis reportedly began making unreasonable demands and harassing her landlords by yelling insults at them and videotaping them. According to the landlords, Charis made home improvements without authorization and deducted the cost from her rent payment. She also claimed on numerous occasions that her property-which included computers, jewelry, and her car-was stolen or damaged, and often accused her landlords of theft. Many times, the landlords claimed, Charis bounced rent checks. The court later found that Charis had received numerous gifts and donations, in addition to sporadic income and child support payments. Bank records show that she closed accounts before checks were cashed in order to make it appear that she had insufficient funds; at one point she had nearly $25,000 in a single account.
“It’s true that she made some terrible judgments here which constituted crimes, but she was under extreme pressure,” said Charis’s attorney, Joe Allen, who pointed out that Charis is independently employed and raising a 4-year-old son by herself. Allen further maintained that constantly moving had a detrimental effect on her son and her source of income, which-according to bank records-appears to be unstable. Allen asked the judge to consider mild retribution payments and supervised probation as a sentence. He also pleaded for a reasonable amount of time for Charis to get her personal affairs in order before turning herself in at the county jail.
