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Athens · May 9, 2012, 03:16 AM

Austin Government Officials Seize Man’s Home because he had a Bunker

I need to look up the store on a new agency site but first, is a swat team really needed against a 70 year old. Secondly what they did to his home, the bill and worst seizing his property is just beyond insane.

A 70 year old retired air force member had a bunker built in his basement during the cold war. It was a bomb shelter basically. Since then he has used it as a work shop. The City of Austin filled in the bunker and then charged him a bill of 90k before seizing his property. This is wrong on so many levels I cant even begin just one aspect of this.

Athens · May 9, 2012, 03:18 AM

Man sues city over seizure of house with underground shelter

subego · May 9, 2012, 04:07 AM

Here's the non-linkbait version from two years ago. I'm cutting and pasting because it's from a Google cache.

City code enforcement officials are assessing what to do about an East Austin home after a man built an extensive bunker beneath it that drew emergency crews Saturday morning, city officials said Tuesday.

Jose Del Rio, a Vietnam War veteran, built a "multilevel" structure about 20 to 25 feet below the home, said Doug Matthews, director of communications for the City of Austin.

Matthews said code enforcement officials visited the home at 2006 Canterbury St. in East Austin early last week after receiving a complaint about possible excavation there. Del Rio, a retiree, showed the officials the underground structure, Matthews said.

"The code officers went out to investigate it, and the individual was fairly cooperative and showed them what he had been working on, which turned out to be a multilevel underground structure," Matthews said.

There were two levels, and a third hole below those levels, Matthews said.

The code officials "had some concerns about the structural integrity of the building and the contents of what was down there," he said.

The visit triggered a search warrant at the home. Austin police and fire personnel, including members of the police SWAT team, bomb squad and fire search and rescue team, did a full sweep of the home Saturday, Matthews said. The warrant was executed shortly after 7 a.m.; neighbors were asked to leave, and the home was searched for more than four hours, Matthews said. Nearby Metz Elementary School served as the emergency crews' staging area.

Among the items recovered from the home were several weapons, inert grenades and 55-gallon barrels, which turned out to be empty, Matthews said. No charges have been filed in the case, police officials said. It was not clear whether Del Rio will face code violations, which could result in fines, Matthews said.

He said officials are working with Del Rio to figure out whether the home is salvageable.

A neighbor, Mary Montoya, said her family had seen Del Rio take away barrels of dirt in trucks for the past year. One of the holes from the digging reaches into her yard.

"We knew something was going on, but I never thought it would be something like this," Montoya said.

Matthews said that Del Rio might have hired some assistants for the excavation, but that could not be verified. It was also unclear how long Del Rio had been working on the bunker, Matthews said.

Melissa Martinez, a spokeswoman for the Code Compliance Department for the City of Austin, said "this is the first time we've dealt with this kind of excavation." She said the deepest part of the bunker was 35 feet below the surface.

Martinez said that finding out why the bunker was built was not a priority during the search of the home. She said a motive might be determined Thursday, when several city departments are scheduled to meet to decide what will happen next.

For the time being, she said, the home has been boarded up and the utilities turned off, and an 8-foot-tall fence has been placed around the house.

Travis County property records show a 586-square-foot home was built at the address in 1927. Public records show a Joe R. Del Rio, 70, living at the address. Attempts to reach Del Rio or listed relatives were unsuccessful Tuesday.

Del Rio is now living with family, Martinez said. "He won't be coming home for a while."

[email protected]; 445-5933

Additional material from staff writer Isadora Vail.

turtle777 · May 9, 2012, 08:20 AM

Still bullshit, typical police state behavior.

A SWAT team to enforce a code compliance ? Give me a f*cking break. Only in Amaraca™.

-t

subego · May 9, 2012, 08:29 AM

To enforce a search warrant.

SSharon · May 9, 2012, 09:27 AM

Originally Posted by subego

To enforce a search warrant.

I'm not sure that makes it much better.

I understand that they were concerned about what was down there and see why a search warrant was justified, but SWAT wasn't necessary. Bomb squad makes sense, fencing off the property makes sense, but it sounds like it turned into a circus where every department just wanted in on the action.

The Final Shortcut · May 9, 2012, 10:02 AM

Land of the Free!™

/Doofy

mduell · May 9, 2012, 10:58 AM

My biggest surprise is they didn't shoot him/his dog/his neighbors dog/etc.

subego · May 9, 2012, 01:58 PM

Originally Posted by SSharon

I'm not sure that makes it much better.

I understand that they were concerned about what was down there and see why a search warrant was justified, but SWAT wasn't necessary. Bomb squad makes sense, fencing off the property makes sense, but it sounds like it turned into a circus where every department just wanted in on the action.

The guy had grenades and was building a multi-story bunker that was so insane they had to condemn the building. I might want backup.

subego · May 9, 2012, 05:04 PM

Lieutenant: I've got to serve this warrant on a guy with a three-story underground bunker, a gun rack, and a pile of grenades. Can I get the SWAT team?

Captain MacNN: Are you ****ing kidding me? Does this look like the Soviet Union? Commie bastard... you go serve that warrant right now young man!

Lieutenant: Okay.

Captain MacNN: Wait, where are you going? You forgot the bomb squad, dumbass.

Athens · May 9, 2012, 05:10 PM

Originally Posted by turtle777

Still bullshit, typical police state behavior.

A SWAT team to enforce a code compliance ? Give me a f*cking break. Only in Amaraca™.

-t

Most search warrants are probably with just a couple local cops. I suspect and I think I read this in one of the articles they thought they where dealing with another bomber type because of the bunker. (Guess people forgot what life was like in the cold war or those running things are to young to remember it)

Athens · May 9, 2012, 05:13 PM

Originally Posted by subego

The guy had grenades and was building a multi-story bunker that was so insane they had to condemn the building. I might want backup.

The guy had deactivated grenades, and I thought it was already built. He remolded the bunker as a work shop. The building was also not condemned due to the bunker and a 2009 building inspection report found nothing wrong with it. The house is falling apart now because its been abandoned and not by choice. IT was rendered unlivable buy the actions of the city.

The swat team does not bother me so much. Its the filling in the bunker, kicking him out of the home and rendering it uninhabitable by removing utilities that do. The city is so way out of line.

subego · May 9, 2012, 05:16 PM

Did you read the article I posted?

What precipitated this was digging under his neighbor's yard.

subego · May 9, 2012, 05:17 PM

Originally Posted by Athens

The guy had deactivated grenades

[sigh]

Let me point this gun at you. Don't worry, it's deactivated.

subego · May 9, 2012, 05:19 PM

Originally Posted by Athens

The swat team does not bother me so much. Its the filling in the bunker, kicking him out of the home and rendering it uninhabitable by removing utilities that do. The city is so way out of line.

You really need to read the article I posted. They filled it in because he had dug so much up there was serious danger of the building collapsing. As I (and the article) said, there was already a hole in his neighbor's yard. If your construction can't hold up the ground, how is it going to fare with a house on it?

andi*pandi · May 9, 2012, 05:22 PM

sounds like he'd also been a neighborhood nuisance with all the hole digging and property-line crossing.

subego · May 9, 2012, 05:25 PM

I'd put money on this guy being a total fruitcake.

mattyb · May 9, 2012, 05:32 PM

Next time, to avoid the bullshit, they should choose the nuclear option.

Eug · 10:13 PM

It sounds like the city might have done the right thing, even if partially just for code compliance. Some local dudes were digging out their basement a couple of years ago, to add a couple of feet to the ceiling height. The whole house caved in, because they were doing it without a city inspection or an engineering survey.

Here's another example, with permits, but probably being done incorrectly:

Video