Several landlords, tenants and former city employees claim city housing enforcement officers have used illegal methods, such as entering homes, searching properties and tampering with mail, to collect information about students and other residents living in rental houses in the city.

The issue has been brought to the attention of the East Lansing City Council and in the 54-B District Court, most notably through a case filed against the city in December 2010 regarding Mike Doherty Sr., a landlord who was formerly charged with the over-occupancy of one rental house and one duplex in December 2008.

On Nov. 23, the lawsuit will be brought up again in Ingham County’s 30th Judicial Circuit Court, and the city has filed a motion to dismiss the case at that time, Assistant City Attorney Tom Yeadon said.

Doherty said the information gathered from these incidents was procured by searching through property mailboxes illegally.

The lawsuit claims the city was violating privacy interests protected by the Fourth Amendment and that city officials turned a blind eye to the illegal activities that some say occurred for more than a decade.

Emails obtained by The State News show all members of then-city council were informed of the alleged abuses in September 2009.

Doherty said former city housing enforcement officers Robert Dutcher and James Graham came to his house and threatened his family and property.

“He told me he was going to come after my houses, come after my son,” Doherty said.

Dutcher said he opened mailbox lids at several residencies to verify who lived there 30 or 40 times out of hundreds of over-occupancy cases he’d dealt with in an April 6 court deposition taken by Jeffrey Hank, an East Lansing attorney representing Doherty.

Yeadon said he does not believe Dutcher’s actions were illegal.

“(There is) not an expectation of privacy in the lid of a mailbox any more than there would be on the outside of an envelope,” Yeadon said.

Yeadon said there are federal statutes prohibiting the action of looking through mail or physically searching it, but he believes Dutcher’s actions — opening the lids of mailboxes — does not violate these statutes or the privacy rights protected by the Fourth Amendment.

“The facts are clear, and the law is clear, and that’s why we believe the case should be dismissed,” Yeadon said.

A mail vandalism inspection only can be launched if a resident has concrete evidence, such as a video tape, and presents it to the United States Postal Inspection Service, said Sabrina Todd, a spokesperson for the U.S. Postal Service.

Hank said he believes the issue goes beyond the incident currently in court – even beyond the issue of mailbox tampering as a whole.

Former city employees and residents have outlined similar concerns.

A legal affidavit of truth obtained by The State News shows Ann Ezop, a former housing and code enforcer for the city of East Lansing, testifying she witnessed multiple abuses of power by Dutcher.

According to the document, she witnessed Dutcher employing intimidation techniques to leverage information from the residents he was investigating and illegally searching the mail of residents.