Beat up for months by her husband — and their maintenance man — Waldport apartment managers now want her to leave

 

After YachatsNews reported Wednesday that Kim Segaline had been threatened with eviction days after her husband was arrested for repeatedly assaulting her, Segaline said the owner of her apartment complex’s management company called her to apologize and allowed her until Jan. 15 to move out.

Segaline said Grand Management Services owner Kristin Smith contacted her Wednesday afternoon and apologized for the note she’d received upon returning from court last week, threatening her with eviction if she did not call the company’s main office in Coos Bay. She said Smith also apologized that Grand’s subsidized properties manager told her that she had five days to move out. Smith asked if Jan. 15 would give her sufficient time, and Segaline said she believed it would.

Grand Management officials declined to talk with YachatsNews.

Since YachatsNews’ story was published Wednesday:

• Segaline’s husband, Jacob Reimer, was released from jail Wednesday morning after his mother posted $25,000, or 10 percent of his $250,000 bond. The release agreement states Reimer is not to possess alcohol or drugs or enter a tavern, bar, liquor store or dispensary. It also prohibits him from having direct or indirect contact with his wife.
• A Newport domestic violence organization provided Segaline with a replacement cell phone. Calls and messages to her previous cell phone, which was on her husband’s plan, were restricted after Reimer was released from jail. 
• Another Newport nonprofit provided Segaline with money for a moving truck and storage space. She’s also raised more than $2,000 toward a car and housing as of Thursday afternoon through a GoFundMe page started by her oldest daughter. Segaline said she scheduled an interview for housing assistance next week.
• Segaline said Lincoln County legal aid told her soon after she was threatened with eviction that her rights were limited under Oregon law. As a tenant through her husband’s employment, the landlord/employer can give 24-hour notice, although as with any eviction, they must still go through the courts to forcibly remove someone. 
• Segaline said a representative from the Oregon Department of Human Services interviewed her Wednesday investigating a complaint. She said she believes her husband is behind the complaint because he threatened to have their one-month old daughter taken away if she reported his attacks.

 

 

By KENNETH LIPP/YachatsNews

WALDPORT – Kim Segaline sits on the living room floor of her apartment at the back of a complex in downtown Waldport.

Next to her is a Christmas tree decked with multicolored lights. The faux-fireplace heater’s flames radiate warmth as her newborn daughter softly coos, stretches and falls asleep. There are presents around the tree, framed by a banner featuring playful snowmen.

It’s just days until Christmas.

Segaline, 37, is healing from months of trauma. And now she’s been told she has to leave her cozy apartment because her husband was arrested last week for beating her up.

Lincoln County Sheriff’s deputies arrested Jacob Reimer, 40, on Dec. 11 for strangling and assaulting her in October, November and December. They had been married for five months.

Days later, the company that manages the federally subsidized Sa-Da-Munn Apartments told Segaline she has to get out. Living in the 50-unit complex on Willow Street is based on her now-jailed husband working at the complex as maintenance man, she was told.

Reimer was arraigned Monday on an indictment containing 10 charges, including felony domestic assault for an Oct. 1 incident in which Segaline said he strangled her and stabbed her in the head with a screwdriver. Reimer’s court-appointed attorney entered a not guilty plea and Judge Sheryl Bachart set a new appearance date of Jan. 19 for an early resolution conference.

Bachart ordered Reimer not to have contact with his wife, should he gain his release. During a hearing Dec. 15, she denied his request to be released to his mother’s home, keeping his bond at $250,000. He was released Wednesday morning after posting bail.

Segaline said Reimer was hired as the maintenance worker at the apartment complex almost a year ago while she –  living in a house up the Alsea River – worked there for a cleaning contractor. She said they started seeing each other in early February, got along well, and she moved into his apartment in April. They were married June 25, when she was a few months pregnant with their daughter.

“He definitely lied to me about his past,” Segaline told YachatsNews, recounting how she learned of previous criminal convictions during a court hearing last week.

Segaline said Reimer had been physically aggressive, but turned more violent as she approached her due date and continued so after the Nov. 12 birth of their daughter, Paisley.

Reimer is also charged with felony assault with a weapon for giving Segaline two black eyes after striking her with a cell phone Nov. 28. On that and another occasion, Segaline said he dragged her through the apartment by her hair and strangled her.

Segaline called police Dec. 11 after the last assault. A deputy arrived to find her with fresh and healing injuries, according to charging documents. Deputies  arrested Reimer at his mother’s house in Newport. He denied the assault.

Notice on the door

After attending her husband’s arraignment last Thursday, Segaline returned home to find a note on her door instructing her to call Jerry Mascolo, manager of subsidized properties for Coos Bay-based Grand Management Services.

“Failure to do so will result in an eviction,” said the typed note signed by Grand’s site manager Laura Tommila.

When she called, Segaline said, Mascolo told her that because she and her daughter lived in the apartment through Reimer’s job there, she would have to be out in five days. She could only stay if he was there.

Mascolo declined to answer any of YachatsNews’ questions when reached by telephone Monday.

Segaline’s prospect of successfully fighting the eviction in court is not good, as tenants by employment are not afforded the same rights to notification and waiting periods as other residential tenants under Oregon law.

Sa-Da-Munn is owned by South Lincoln Apartments Inc., whose president is listed on the Oregon Secretary of State’s business registry as Vanita Sorensen, a longtime resident of the complex. Sorensen said she resigned from the board in September, did not know who the new president was, and no longer kept apprised of management’s actions.

But she said the board had no power to control evictions — they could only question management or vote to replace them.

Grand Management’s portfolio represents a notable portion of affordable rental housing in rural areas of Oregon, including several coastal counties. It manages 18 properties that receive federal housing subsidies, according to its website. Among 17 listed in the state of Oregon’s affordable housing inventory, the company oversees more than 350 units from Brookings to Tillamook and as far east as Prineville. There are 50 units at Sa-Da-Munn.

Little support

As she waits to receive the legally required written notice of eviction, Segaline fears she could be subject to 24-hour surveillance outside the apartment complex by Reimer’s mother, with whom he left his work keys and access to the complex’s security cameras via his cell phone.

Segaline said she expects her cell phone service will be cut off soon because it was on her husband’s plan. She sold her car to afford taking off work for Paisley’s birth, and she does not have access to Reimer’s truck that she’d been relying on for transportation.

During her husband’s arrest, Segaline told the deputy that he controlled every aspect of their lives, and she had been afraid to report abuse because he threatened to leave with their daughter.

Ellen Everitt, executive assistant in the Lincoln County District Attorney’s Office, said the office has a victims division and a caseworker assigned to inform Segaline of progress in the criminal case and connect her with resources.

Segaline has come up with few options for leaving, but none ideal, especially considering her recent childbirth and injuries. On Tuesday, she signed up for assistance from a Newport domestic violence organization. A neighbor offered her use of a storage unit. An older daughter set up a GoFundMe account to raise money for a car and a new apartment.

The assistance has her feeling some relief, but she’s “still on eggshells,” not knowing if she and her baby can be evicted because she was beat up.

• Kenneth Lipp is YachatsNews’ full-time reporter and can be reached at KenLipp@YachatsNews.com