- Cops descended on a raucous Beverly Hills party mansion amid reports of a home invasion on Friday
- The mansion has hosted near-nightly raves, plaguing celebrity neighbors including Lebron James and Seth McFarlane
- No charges were brought following Friday’s incident, despite growing calls from locals to bring the relentless partying to an end
A dramatic police raid descended on a raucous Beverly Hills ‘squatting’ mansion that has been plaguing its celebrity neighborhood with nightly rave parties.
The Los Angeles Police Department responded to reports of a home invasion shortly after 3pm Friday at the $4.3 million mansion, the site of a number of out-of-control parties that began in October.
Despite counting Lebron James and Family Guy creator Seth McFarlane as neighbors, police had been seemingly powerless to stop the continuing raves – until Friday’s incident reportedly included several suspects armed with a knife.
It appeared that one of the all-day parties was going on at the time, with a number of guests seen handcuffed and lined up on an outdoor patio after cops breached the home.
All detainees were later released, and no charges were brought, according to KTLA.
The mansion was owned by alleged fraudster and suspected killer Dr Munir Uwaydah, who fled the US in 2013 amid an investigation into the murder of his girlfriend.
He had been accused of swindling Medicare out of millions of dollars, and was last reportedly living in Beirut.
The property was repossessed by Uwaydah’s mortgage lender and is currently on the market for over $4.5 million, but has since been taken over by ‘squatters’ who claim they are the valid tenants.
DailyMail.com revealed this week that the suspected hard-partying squatters include a man accused of beating his ex-girlfriend, and a frequent visitor was also involved in an alleged multi-million-dollar student loans scam.
Since October, the sprawling estate has hosted wild, near-nightly parties that often don’t start until 2am.
The ‘squatters’ are even advertising rooms in the four-bed, 5,857 sq ft home on Booking.com for $300 per night and charge hundreds of party guests $75 entry fees at the gate.
The ritzy neighborhood – which also includes billionaire Jeff Bezos and John Legend – has complained ever since over the bashes, which have previously resulted in assaults, fires and arrests.
As first reported by DailyMail.com earlier this month, a relentless week of parting to begin the year resulted in the swanky cul-de-sac becoming overran with trash.
Scenes on the streets outside the mansion included nitrous oxide canisters inhaled by partygoers from balloons to get high, crushed Solo cups, pools of vomit, and condom packets.
Before the raves ruined the picturesque area, Lebron James picked a site just a stone’s throw away as the site of his ‘dream home’, and previously demolished a lavish $36.8 million mansion on the spot to make room.
James’s house manager, who asked not to be named, told DailyMail.com earlier this month that he had to keep security guards at the NBA star’s building site 24/7 in part because of the squatters’ parties.
‘I’ve heard from my security team up there about all the crazy cars, crazy parties at night, how we’re not able to get into our property sometimes because they’re blocking the street with their cars, and just the nuisance at night with the loud music and people floating out to the streets,’ he said.
‘It’s one of the reasons we have security 24/7. Otherwise, there’s no need for me to have security there 24/7 because it’s just a construction site.’
Before Friday’s raid, questions had been raised over why local police seemed powerless to bring the disruptive parties to an end.
One neighbor, Rick Rankin, told DailyMail.com that police were unable to evict the residents because they had obtained drivers licenses with the property address, and even produced a rental agreement, which the property’s current listing agent insists is fake.
‘The officers told me the house was trashed,’ Rankin, a 65-year-old technology consultant, said. ‘It’s like they’re hoarders. The garage is full of s**t.
‘Young women have been seen coming and going in and out of the house at all hours.
‘When people leave they’re stumbling. You know when someone’s high. It’s not a drunken thing. They’re jittery, nervous, eyes spinning.
‘One night they had a party I went around and there were at least 50 cars. These are one-way, narrow streets, but they just plop their cars down and get out.’
While no charges were brought as a result of Friday’s raid, the LAPD has reportedly opened a narcotics case related to drugs photographed by private investigator Mark Ebner.
Ebner was hired by the property’s legal owner and the realtor attempting to sell it, leading him to spend several nights outside the mansion watching the raucous antics from the street.
‘If you stake out at 8am after a party night, it’s like Night of the Living Dead up there. These people are zombies. They’re just completely whacked out by the binge they’ve been on,’ he said.
‘There are nitrous canisters that litter the street, broken glass, things like that.’
At the start of the month, Ebner photographed a bag of pill capsuled in the backseat of an attendee’s Porsche 911, which was subsequently towed by police.
The pills and other potential evidence of drug use around the house has prompted LAPD to refer the case to its Narcotics division.
Ebner said he has also handed over all his files on the accused squatters and their parties to the department’s Major Crimes unit.
Despite the alleged trouble stemming from the mansion, the ‘squatters’ have made no secret of their antics.
They appeared to list the home on Booking.com as a vacation rental, sharing photos from inside the four-bed, six-bathroom home with a pool and bar – as well as an LED-lit disco room.
The Booking.com listing for the house calls it the ‘Beverly Hills Lodge’, and offers a room for four people for $300 per night, including a ’60-min massage’.
‘At the lodge guests are welcome to use a spa center,’ the listing said. ‘A casino and a children’s playground, are available for guests at Beverly Hills Lodge.’
Parties at the house are even being advertised on events website get-in.com, showing start times as late as midnight and a $75 cover charge, which the organizers claim was ‘for the nova festival victims from the massacre on October 7’, a reference to the Hamas attacks on Israel.
The LAPD has faced a number of callouts to the mansion, with app Citizen recording incidents including a man in a bucket hat assaulting someone with a metal box on January 13, a battery incident on December 2, and a reported burglary on November 23.
An aide for councilwoman Katy Yaroslavsky told neighbors in an email that ‘LAPD is working with the City Attorney’s office to file a Trespass Authorization Form so they have the authority to remove squatters from the site.’
LAPD Senior Lead Officer James Allen, who told DailyMail.com he was leading the investigation, said the controversial residents claimed to cops that they were friends of the former owner, and had been invited by him to live in the home.
But he added that the current ownership of the home is uncertain, has been the subject of a bankruptcy court case, and that the home is entering foreclosure.
‘I guess he left his friends in the house. I guess we can say they’re squatters. But they’re squatters to the owner that’s in foreclosure to the bank,’ Allen said.
‘We’re working on a plan with the bank to evict the individuals because there’s no one at this point to evict them and say they’re there illegally.
‘I’ve submitted it to the City Attorney. I’m citing the home every time we get a radio call for a party.
‘They’re using the home outside of its original purpose, illegally.’
Despite police investigations into the home, there is growing resentment from locals over a lack of action to actually stop the issue.
Jeff Scapa, a private mortgage lender, told DailyMail.com he loaned $3.8million to the current owner, a company called MDRCA Properties LLC.
Scapa said a court ruled he could foreclose on the home, but that process was frozen when MDRCA filed for bankruptcy last month.
Scapa said he discovered squatters had taken over the home in October last year, and shared videos with DailyMail.com he took of one man admitting he started moving his belongings into the house ‘the first week of October’.
He said that he and MDRCA offered the alleged squatters $25,000 cash to leave, but they declined.
Scapa said he was frustrated with police and the LA courts for not evicting the alleged unlawful residents already.
‘Everybody knows this guy is not supposed to be there, and they do nothing,’ he said.
