A Florida man was arrested for allegedly harassing his gay neighbors for months. He also made sexual comments about the couple to their children.
RELATED STORIES: Patrisse Cullors, Co-founder Of The Black Lives Matter Movement Says Candace Owens Is Outside Of Her Home Harassing Her
Frank Norviel ,57, targeted the couple by standing on the side of the fence separating their home in Leesburg and riding his bicycle past their home screaming homophobic slurs or flashing lights into their windows. He also told the victims in September 2022 that it was “Adam and Eve” not “Adam and Steve” while squeezing a rubber chicken. According to Raw Story, Norviel allegedly told their children that he would kill their family cat and eat it with teriyaki sauce.
When one of the children stood up to him, he told the boy to “shut up” and made the suggestion that he perform lewd acts on his parents “like they trained” him to do. A judge granted to temporary injunctions for protections that prohibited Norviel from coming within 10 feet of the couple’s cars but he later violated these terms when security footage showed him placing dirty underwear over the couple’s vehicle and a white cross on the top of their fence.
RELATED STORIES: Woman Reveals Her Father Reportedly Committed Suicide Because She Married A Black Man
Norviel was caught again after a Lake County deputy heard lights and noises coming from his backyard on Tuesday night and he came out of his home accusing law enforcement of trespassing. The deputy attempted to restrain him to keep him from barricading himself inside the home and pushed the two deputies onto the ground.
A taser was used to keep Norviel on the ground after officers issued him a warning and he was subsequently arrested. Officers charged him with battery on a law enforcement officer, resisting an officer with violence, three counts of resisting an officer without violence, two counts of violating an injunction of protection, and two counts of aggravated stalking as a hate crime.
A similar incident happened in the United Kingdom when a woman was sentenced to jail for harassing her neighbors.
Elvira Baptiste,64, was sentenced to serve 16 weeks in jail for consistently harassing her gay neighbors. Prosecutors said she would hang up homophobic posters, play music that would contain lyrics about killing gay men, and scream violent language toward her neighbors. The consistent harassment caused the couple to move out of their home last year.
“She has made our lives miserable. She seems to be watching us all the time and has put posters up in her window. We cannot use our garden as it feels like she is watching us. I am not sleeping very well and our relationship is suffering. We are constantly living on edge because of this behavior — we are not comfortable at home and we are both struggling. We loved the flat but, within a week, we know we would have to move out because of her behavior. I have experienced forms of hate before, but never to this extent – she comes from a place of aggression,” the couple wrote in their statement.