The Oregonian | By Zane Sparling | April 28, 2022
A Beaverton woman who says she was tormented for more than two years by anonymous notes has sued a neighbor allegedly caught on camera leaving a hateful screed at her condo.
The woman seeks $245,000 from Lorna Hunter, 57, and says in the lawsuit that the hand-scrawled notes contained “deranged, hate-filled, homophobic and racist” language. Hunter did not respond to multiple attempts to reach her.
The paper messages were bagged and taped to the woman’s car or her partner’s car while parked overnight at their condominium complex, beginning in December 2019, she said.
“I always have to look over my shoulder at who is watching us,” said the woman, who isn’t identified in court papers and requested anonymity due to fears of retaliation. “Nobody has any right to cause such emotional distress for a long time.”
The woman, 62, said she believes she was targeted because she is Japanese and her partner is Latino.
The messages appeared sporadically in 2020 and 2021, the woman said in a phone interview, before turning up with alarming frequency this year, when 14 of the 21 notes appeared. Five of the messages were left this month, as recently as April 15, she said.
The Oregonian/OregonLive reviewed copies of the notes, as well as a spreadsheet created by the woman tracking the alleged harassment. The notes wrongly refer to the woman’s partner as her son and frequently refer to him using homophobic slurs. Another message calls the woman an unintelligent member of her race.
“Stop coming back here! I know where your mother lives so I will come shove dog (feces) down both your throats,” one letter says, adding an expletive. “You will not stop me. You have not even figured out where I am.”
The woman said she hired private detective Mark Ososke, who installed a hidden camera inside her partner’s car, capturing footage of a person leaving a note.
The detective then identified the note-leaver as Hunter, according to attorney Michael Fuller, who filed the suit Friday in Multnomah County Circuit Court on the woman’s behalf.
“There’s a level of anti-Asian hate that I see in our community that I’ve never experienced before,” Fuller said. “I think we need to send a message that this is not acceptable.”
His client said she sought a temporary restraining order against Hunter last week; she said she hasn’t had any previous interactions with Hunter.
