LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- A Louisville couple said their family has been the target of threats and racial slurs.
The family lives in the Lake Forest subdivision of east Louisville and said their children, yard and driveway have all been targeted.
"Our middle child would come in the house and ask us what the n-word was," Michella Pineda.
Michella and Connie Pineda said the problems started last summer, shortly after they moved into their home. Michella shared part of the conversation with the couple's daughter.
"She told us it was from a neighbor's child calling her siblings the n-word," she said.
The Pinedas have five children.
"Our two oldest children are half black and Filipino," Michella said.
The couple said after several issues, there was a confrontation with a neighbor who lives two doors down.
"The end of March, when she pulled up behind my child and said something, my child came up to us crying ... saying that 'she said she was going to run her over,'" Michella said.
The couple said after their yard and driveway were vandalized multiple times, they installed surveillance cameras and caught the neighbor in the act.
"You can see them coming from their back yard, passing their garage, going down their driveway and just vandalizing our property," Michella said.
The next morning, the Pinedas found the racial slur and a swastika symbol spray-painted on their driveway. They contacted Louisville Metro Police and the president of their homeowner's association.
"I spoke to him myself and tried to show him the video that we had, and he refused to watch it," Connie said.
This week, LMPD took action, charging Suzanne Craft with criminal mischief and harassing communications. The Pinedas also filed a civil lawsuit against Craft and the Lake Forest Community Association.
Vanessa Cantley, the couple's attorney, said the the lawsuit also names the HOA.
"They knew, had direct knowledge of the harassment going on for a very long time, and they failed to take steps to protect this family and to stop that harassment from continuing," Cantley said.
Craft returned home while WDRB News was in the neighborhood. She did not respond to a knock at the door.
Craft is scheduled to appear in court on the criminal charges next week.
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