RAIDED VALLEY HOME HAS OODLES IN BOODLE.

Byline: Lisa M. Sodders and Jason Kandel Staff Writers

NORTHRIDGE - Tipped that residents of a Northridge house might be fencing stolen goods, police were astonished by what they found in a raid Friday.

Besides an array of stolen computers, big-screen TVs and appliances, they said they found 20 people living in every nook and cranny of the five- bedroom house.

Also, the occupants had tapped into the city's water and power supplies without paying, possibly for more than two years, authorities said.

Officers couldn't help but note that the house next door to the squalor is an immaculately groomed home known to locals as ``Graceland'' because of the front gates adorned with musical notes and silhouettes of Elvis Presley.

``It's like you've got Graceland - and Disgraceland,'' Los Angeles Police Department Officer Daniel Robinson said.

Police raided the 3,100-square-foot home in the 17900 block of Parthenia Street after getting a tip from three burglary suspects who claimed they'd been selling their stolen goods to residents there for at least 2 1/2 years, said LAPD Deputy Chief Ronald Bergmann.

``I don't think I've ever seen one quite like this one,'' said Bergmann, who commands the Valley Bureau. ``I've been at this about 30 years, and I've not seen a location like this one.''

Property records show the home was purchased in 2001 by Carbon Associates of Los Angeles, for $1,000. There was no listing for Carbon Associates.

But police said the house was owned by Daniel W. Bowles III, who was among the eight people arrested.

Bowles had been admitted to the California Bar Association in 1977 and was suspended twice for failure to pay dues, records show. In 1988, he was sentenced to three years' probation after pleading no contest to misdemeanor charges for unauthorized practice of law.

He was disbarred in 1989 after being accused of abandoning clients in six cases and of having insufficient funds to cover a check drawn on a client's account.

Following the raid Friday, Bowles was booked into the Van Nuys Jail on suspicion of receiving stolen goods. He was being held in lieu of $10,000 bail, police said.

Bowles' unidentified wife was being held in lieu of $30,000 bail on outstanding warrants, officials said.

Gabriel Felix, 24, and Greg Garver, 33, were booked on suspicion of burglary. Felix, who was wanted on a $50,000 warrant out of Denver, was being held without bail. Garver was being held in lieu of $15,000 bail.

Two other unidentified men and two unidentified women were also booked on misdemeanor warrants.

A 10-year-old girl was taken into protective custody, authorities said.

Police said occupants of the home had rigged a bypass system to use electricity from city lines without being billed. They also had dug up the front yard to tap into the city's water supply, pumping it into the house from 55-gallon drums set on the cluttered, trash-littered lawn.

Darlene Battle, a spokeswoman for the city Department of Water and Power, estimated that the water bill for 20 people would be $425 a month, based on an estimated average of $85 for a family of four.

Four of the 20 people apprehended were living in the attic, which had been partitioned off with cardboard boxes, police said. Others were living in a backyard tent - equipped with a computer and an electronic game system.

``The entire house is filled with what we suppose are stolen goods,'' Bergmann said. ``Every room had at least one big-screen TV.''

Some burglary victims have already been able to identify their stolen property, he said.

Electronic equipment of every description - some of it disassembled, possibly for sale as parts - was littered around the front and back yards: computers, big-screen televisions, stereos, a Jacuzzi, a large industrial drill and two electric scooters that police said came from a shipment of stolen scooters. At least two cars on the property had been stolen, police said.

Other items scattered about the premises included a miniature cannon - complete with cannonball - half a mannequin, the metal base to an antique Singer treadle sewing machine, a telescope, a pair of in-line skates and two stuffed-toy monkeys.

``This really hurts a neighborhood,'' said Detective Robert Graybill, the Valley's auto theft supervisor.

CAPTION(S):

3 photos

Photo:

(1) Theft suspects living in a large residence in Northridge apparently were using 55-gallon water drums to divert city water to the house.

(2) Police found everything from stolen computers to a small cannon at the Northridge house they raided Friday.

(3) L.A. police officers arrested 18 of 20 suspects they found living in a Northridge house crammed with thousands of stolen items. The occupants used water and power tapped from city lines.

Gene Blevins/Special to the Daily News