Article Courtesy of The
Orlando Sentinel
By Caroline Glenn
Published March 26, 2020
|
Michael Floyd had just gotten off a plane at the Orlando airport when he was
arrested and booked into the Orange County jail. His next-door neighbor had told
authorities that Floyd was cyberstalking him using the security system Floyd had
installed at his home on Lake Butler.
Prosecutors later
dropped the charges, but they have spurred Floyd to file a
federal lawsuit claiming his neighbor pressured authorities
to pursue a baseless criminal case stemming from a yearslong
feud between the two men over their million-dollar lakeside
Windermere properties. In the suit filed in U.S. District
Court, Floyd said he suffered “physical and mental pain and
suffering, humiliation and harassment resulting from his
arrest and prosecution.”
Just a few months after Floyd purchased the two-acre lot
next door to Zachary Stoumbos in late 2010, the two became
embroiled in civil and criminal court battles.
Floyd, who lives most of the year in Ireland, alleges
Stoumbos has harassed him for years, trespassing on his
property, tampering with his security cameras and lying to
state authorities about him. The suit demands more than
$75,000.
Meanwhile, Stoumbos, a criminal attorney with offices in
downtown Orlando, claims the cameras on Floyd’s property
invade his and his wife’s privacy and has complained about
radios blaring loud music that have “deprived (his) family
of the quiet and peaceful enjoyment of their property,"
Stoumbos said in a previous court filing.
In a letter to the assistant state
attorney who oversaw the dismissed stalking case, Stoumbos
wrote that Floyd “may be a very dangerous man.” |
|
Dispute over Orange County duplex has 'snowballed out
of control' as owners pursues federal suit.
|
“Obviously the case is going to be aggressively defended,'' Dennis O’Connor,
an attorney representing Stoumbos, told the Sentinel. "Mr. Stoumbos did not
do anything wrong here. It’s just a continuation of a long-standing,
recurring dispute between these two landowners. Mr. Stoumbos is a
well-regarded, 30-year attorney who didn’t do anything wrong.”
Floyd’s attorneys did not return requests for comment.
In the federal lawsuit, Floyd describes how he says the dispute began in
March 2011 when he filed a request to build a new, bigger boat dock on his
property. Because it would be larger than zoning allowed, he needed Stoumbos’
approval. Despite several requests, Stoumbos would not give his OK,
prompting Floyd to build a smaller deck.
Floyd had bought the Lake Butler property three months earlier with plans to
build a new house on land now valued at $1.5 million, according to the
Orange County Property Appraiser. Stoumbos’ adjacent lot is valued at about
$2.5 million.
It was after that first disagreement that Floyd said he spotted Stoumbos
trespassing on his property, prompting him to install motion-activated
cameras on the dock. But not long after, Floyd said somebody stole the
memory card. So he installed additional equipment on the dock and hung up
signs that said “private property” and “no trespassing." He also hired an
attorney to tell Stoumbos to stay off his property. Stoumbos responded,
demanding Floyd take down the cameras.
Floyd then added more cameras around his property and Stoumbos sent another
letter insisting Floyd remove them, arguing they were an invasion of his
privacy. Floyd, through his attorney, told Stoumbos the cameras were not
operational and only meant to deter trespassers. Stoumbos wasn’t convinced
and sued Floyd in Orange County court in 2012.
In mediation meetings the warring neighbors compromised in a written
agreement so that Floyd could construct a larger dock, the suit states, and
briefly, the two appeared to be getting along. Floyd repaired Stoumbos’ sea
wall, and Stoumbos showed Floyd a condo he owned in Ponce Inlet. According
to the lawsuit, Stoumbos tried to sell Floyd the condo, and when he
declined, Stoumbos called him and used “offensive language.”
Floyd and Stoumbos’ momentary peace seemed to halt in January 2014 when
Stoumbos sought an emergency injunction from the court to force Floyd to
remove loud radios he had recently placed around his property. The radios,
which Floyd said were set up to scare away animals damaging his dock and
keep out intruders from his shed, played from early in the morning to late
at night all week, Stoumbos claimed, blaring music for “no legitimate
purpose and clearly to annoy and harass” him.
The court ordered Floyd to lower the volume of the radios and limit how
often they played. Claiming that Floyd ignored the court order, Stoumbos
called the police and the Orange County Sheriff’s Office filed charges with
the State Attorney’s Office for “breach of peace."
Stoumbos requested that the State Attorney also file stalking charges
against Floyd.
In December 2014, Floyd was arrested at the airport and was later released
on a $6,750 bond.
Meanwhile, the two men were still in a lengthy legal battle over the size of
Floyd’s dock, which Stoumbos now argued was bigger than they had agreed to.
Stoumbos also alleged they had verbally agreed to where Floyd would build
his new home and the positioning of his security cameras, which Floyd
denied. A judge ultimately ruled that Floyd had exceeded the agreed-upon
size of the dock, but it also said Floyd wasn’t bound by the oral agreement
that Stoumbos claimed existed.
Stoumbos, the suit states, continued to pressure authorities to seek harsher
charges.
“My wife and I are in constant fear for both our privacy invasion and
safety. We are extremely concerned that Mr. Floyd continues to harass and
intimidate us despite past civil injunctions and his recent arrest on the
aggravated stalking warrant,” Stoumbos said in a letter to Assistant State
Attorney David Fear, who had been assigned to prosecute the case. “Clearly,
he is undeterred by both the law and the courts, which indicates he may be a
very dangerous man.”
With Stoumbos’ urging, Floyd said the court attempted to revoke his bond and
prosecutors proceeded with a criminal case against him.
Floyd said Fear told the court the cameras in question were “all 360-degree
capability and I have personally witnessed cameras turning to follow me as I
walked along with them.” Prosecutors also recruited Michael West, who had
installed Stoumbos’ own security system, to weigh in as an expert witness
for the case, Floyd said, but he was later let go when it was discovered he
was an ex-felon and was “not usable as an expert.”
|