HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – The president of a Hallandale Beach co-op building was caught on camera verbally abusing a resident who was walking to the laundry room.
In fact, several women in the building have come forward to say they live in fear every time they walk out of their apartments.
A judge has even issued a restraining order.
The man’s name is Larry Reinfeld. He is the president of Building V in Ro-Len Lake Gardens in Hallandale Beach.
He’s seen in video calling a woman a profane name as she walked by him, asking the woman if he’s blocking the walkway.
The woman in the video is a resident and said that kind of treatment isn’t unusual.
She spoke to Local 10 News Investigative Reporter Jeff Weinsier but asked not to be identified.
“A couple of hours later I was going somewhere and he called me a [expletive] as I was getting in the car,” she said.
She claims it started after one of her contractor’s scratched the paint off a walkway.
Since then, she says, Reinfeld has been barking orders.
“Well you better learn to pick up around here,” she recalls him yelling at her. “And he is always saying I need to make myself useful and pick up.”
She said he yells profanities at her through his door.
“He’s like, ‘[expletive] you, [expletive] you, shut up, shut up,’” she said. “It was so bad I was shaking.”
Dispatch records show she’s called police after Reinfeld allegedly said “are you paranoid enough?” as she walked to her car one day. No police report was written.
The resident even confronted the vice president of Building V about the behavior.
“He said keep your door shut and your blinds closed,” she said. “I’m thinking I didn’t come to Florida to have my door shut and my windows closed. What is this?
“I put in writing to the association. They did nothing.”
Deborah Erlichson also lives in Building V.
“He called me a pot smoking drug addict because of my vocal cords,” Erlichson said. “I have a speech impediment he makes fun of that.”
She said when a chair was a bit too far out in the walkway, Reinfeld threw it at her door and damaged it.
Erlichson says Reinfeld accused her of parking crooked one day, calling her a slur.
“A [expletive] [expletive] Jewish whore,” she said.
Last week she took Reinfeld to court.
Judge Michael Kaplan issued a restraining order, Reinfled cannot not have any contact with her and can’t come within five feet of Erlichson’s apartment.
Resident Natalia Williams, who walks with a cane, showed Local 10 News video of Reinfeld throwing a palm frond at her front door.
“I want to be comfortable coming out of my unit,” she said. “I’m so uncomfortable. Anything I would step on, I’d lose my balance and I will fall.”
“He accused me of stealing,” she continued. “He accused me of the laundry of being dirty. He accused me of selling pot. I’m like where is he getting this stuff from?”
Local 10 News tried to talk to Reinfeld outside of court the day he was issued the no contact order.
Ironically, he told the court deputies he was being harassed.
He covered his face and left without commenting.
Reinfeld did call Local 10′s Jeff Weinsier and leave a voicemail, offering to speak with no cameras or microphones to “give you the other side of the story,” but he backed out.
Attorney Andrew Blasi doesn’t represent any of the residents but says there is case law that would support them if they filed a civil suit, and the association could be on the hook thousands in legal fees for harassment and emotional stress.
“To me this is indefensible conduct. These people will win their civil actions under any number of theories,” Blasi said. “They are entitled to the quiet enjoyment of the property they are owning and or renting.”
The association referred Local 10 News to their attorney, Steven Mason, who knew nothing about what was going on there and said he’s investigating.