Man's Ladder Leads To Neighborhood Strife

"My marijuana use is religious and medicinal," Rabinowitz said this week.

Rabinowitz said he believes there were no burglaries. He said he thinks his neighbors and authorities fabricated the burglaries because they wanted him arrested for his marijuana. "These people are part of a plot," he said.

According to police statistics, burglaries are common in Logan Circle, with 16 of them in the past 60 days in the vicinity of Rabinowitz's house.

Two weeks after Dodd's house was burglarized and Rabinowitz was arrested, the house adjacent to Rabinowitz's was burglarized. The thieves entered through a skylight and stole a laptop computer, a camera, a cell phone and cash, police said.

Homeowner Frank Mobilio said the whole situation has him on edge.

"I haven't been able to sleep at night," Mobilio said. "I'm incredibly tense over this."

After the break-ins, several neighbors wrote letters to Rabinowitz asking him to take down his ladder. He rebuffed them.

So they contacted the office of Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D) and the Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs. They got no satisfactory action.

Then Dodd filed a complaint in D.C. Superior Court, asking for a civil court judge to order Rabinowitz to take down the ladder.

The case is before a judge today, but Dodd said she doubts Rabinowitz will show up in court. Authorities have been unable to serve him a summons ordering him to be there.

Rabinowitz, who has been in his home the past several days, said he has refused to open his front door because he doesn't trust the authorities.

"The minute I open my door, they can grab me," he said.

Rabinowitz is due in court tomorrow on his marijuana charge.

Yesterday afternoon, Smith was sitting in his patrol car behind Rabinowitz's house, typing up a search and seizure warrant for the ladder. He said he would try to get a judge to sign it today on grounds that it is evidence in the burglaries.

If the police can seize it, he said, maybe Rabinowitz won't erect another one.

Dodd and Mobilio said they doubt any judge will sign the warrant allowing police to remove it. They said their saga has been too exhausting and defeating for optimism.

"I really wish this were fiction," Mobilio said. "It's been a living nightmare."