Large Crowd Defies City Ordinance, Protests Outside San Marino Home of Wells Fargo CFO

This story was written by City News Service
About 70 people staged a noisy protest Saurday in front of the San Marino home of Wells Fargo Bank's chief financial officer, defying the city's recent ordinance banning pickets near a private home.
The demonstration in front of the home of  Wells Fargo CFO Timothy Sloan was organized by the group Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment, citing the bank's home foreclosure rate, according to the San Gabriel Valley Tribune.
The home had been picketed twice before, in October 2011 and April 2012, the newspaper reported.
The protest was held in direct violation of the city's ordinance passed last year that prohibits picketing within 150 feet of a home or within 75 feet of the property on which the home sits, whichever is greater.
No arrests were made.
San Marino Sgt. Tim Tebbetts told the newspaper that the crowd dispersed once police announced via loudspeaker the demonstration was declared an unlawful assembly.
Wells Fargo and company officials have been targeted for protests partly because of accusations leveled by New York State Attorney Eric Schneiderman that the bank -- along with Bank of America -- was not living up to its responsibilities under the terms of last year's national mortgage settlement, according to the news report.
Schneiderman pointed to 210 complaints lodged by homeowners against Wells Fargo and 129 against Bank of America related to processing of refinancing requests against the banks, the Tribune reported.
One of the people at the protest was Richard Castaldo of Los Angeles, a survivor of the Columbine massacre, whose gunshot wounds left him partially paralyzed. His condo is due to be auctioned off Aug. 12 by Wells Fargo.
Castaldo told the newspaper he fell behind on his payments because of a skyrocketing variable interest rate and his efforts to modify that rate has so far been unsuccessful.
"I just want to know why Wells Fargo is not helping disabled people, when they received generous government bailouts," Castaldo told the paper.
Another protester, Peggy Means of Fontana, called Wells Fargo, "banker gangsters."
Wells Fargo spokesperson Diane Rodriguez said the bank disputed the claims of the protesters.    
"Generally speaking, we, as a company have a very strong record of supporting homeowners who may be in some sort of distress or struggling to stay in their homes," she said. "We've invested heavily in our community to help those who need help along the way."