Hollywood Hills mansion worth millions trashed by squatters

Officers with the Los Angeles Police Department responded to a mansion in Hollywood Hills West on Thursday after receiving calls of “unknown trouble” and neighbors hearing the screams of a woman coming from inside the residence, authorities announced.   

While police did not say exactly what time the call came in, officers responded to 1754 Sunset Plaza Drive and found a group of squatters living in the multi-million-dollar residence, which had been abandoned and trashed.  

Three people, a man and two women, who were at the mansion were removed from the residence and handcuffed by police.  

“It’s an abandoned house,” an LAPD officer said. “They’re just trespassing, squatting. The screaming was somebody, I think they got bit by a dog.”  

The trio was cited for trespassing and released, two of them telling KTLA it was just a misunderstanding. 

“I was hired to clean up, take the squatters out, get the house ready for lease or for sale,” one of the women said.  

However, the real estate agent for the home, who did not want to appear on camera, said that none of the three people on the property were supposed to be there.  

The property, which was once listed for more than $10 million, is now littered with debris and feces, and the once sprawling views of Los Angeles are marred by graffiti.

Neighbors in the area, who also did not want to speak on camera, said they’re concerned with strangers coming and going at all hours and the crime that comes with it. One woman who lives nearby said that the three people removed from the house Thursday had been there about four or five days, but that the problem with squatters has been happening more often.  

“I didn’t know it was going on. I’m just finding out,” another neighbor told KTLA. “It doesn’t make me too happy. It makes me aware of my surroundings a little bit more.”  

It’s not the first time police have responded to this Hollywood Hills West home.   

In Jan. 2022, a 41-year-old man barricaded himself inside the home with a dog after allegedly pointing a shotgun at a person. The man was only taken into custody after an hours-long standoff involving SWAT officers. It was believed that the man had been squatting in the vacant home, police said at the time.  

While it might take action by the city to get the multi-million-dollar home cleaned up, the vandalism does not appear to be hurting the area’s property values as very large, elaborate homes are still being built throughout the canyon, KTLA 5’s Rick Chambers reported.