Does this sweet 59-year-old grandma (and great grandma) look like a drug-selling, gun-shooting, gang-banger at all to you? Well, she does to the police, and supposedly, they have the reports to prove it all.
Jeannetta Holden, who has 12 grandkids and 5 great grandkids, has been leading a fairly quiet life in the same apartment for over 30 years, and her hobbies include taking care of her houseplants and cooking. But according to allegations listed in an eviction notice from her landlords, she is violating her lease by being a … “gang member.”
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Neighbors say she’s innocent and an online search of police records appears to support her claims. Jeannetta Holden, 59, could be evicted anyway.
“I have 12 grandkids and I have five great grandkids,” Holden said. “I like to cook. I like to have them over.”
Holden says she leads a quiet life, in stark contrast to the allegations listed in an eviction letter from Gibraltar Property Management, who oversees the Willow Apartments on the 1500 block of East 31st Avenue in northeast Denver. “I don’t gang bang. I don’t sell drugs. And I definitely don’t shoot guns. Never owned a gun in my life,” Holden said.
That is exactly what the letter from Holden’s landlord accuses her of. The eviction notice lays out a list of alleged lease violations, including drug-related criminal activity, reports of gunshots, and suspected drug and gang activity. “I think it’s horrible,” Holden said. “I’m being falsely accused.”
Holden wrote a letter to the property manager explaining she was not involved in the alleged illegal activities. The manager wrote a return letter saying the eviction notice was issued after more than one written complaint and a police report documenting the incident.
Holden also recounts a phone conversation with the property manager. “She said it was my neighbors saying that I do these kind of things,” Holden said.
When 9NEWS spoke to five neighbors, they all said illegal activity has not occurred at Holden’s apartment. “She’s always been a good neighbor,” Colin Jones, who lives next door, said.
Jones says he did call the police to report gang activity and gunfire over Mother’s Day weekend, but the incident occurred at another address in the neighborhood. “It is another apartment. I even told the police which apartment it was,” Jones said. “It certainly wasn’t her apartment.”
9NEWS searched Denver Police records online and did not find any reports of illegal activity at Holden’s apartment. The letter from Gibraltar Property Management says there are multiple written complaints from neighbors. “It’s frustrating,” she said. “I want to see the proof.”
A man behind the counter at Gibraltar Property Management refused to answer any of our questions Wednesday afternoon. He said he had no comment and said lawyers were handling the matter. 9NEWS left a business card with the landlord and asked their attorney to contact us. We had not received a phone call as of Wednesday evening.
Holden says she’s running out of options – and is afraid she’ll be forced out. “I’ve been here for 30 years,” she said. “I raised my children here. It’s an apartment but, you know, this is my home.”
Holden says she wants to hire a lawyer, but is having a hard time finding someone to help her. “I’m poor,” she said. “I just want to defend myself.”
We couldn’t make this stuff up if we tried people…
