UPDATE: Lenny Dykstra responds to complaints from Linden neighbors in the most Lenny Dykstra way possible

The neighbors of former Mets and Phillies star and World Series great Lenny Dykstra say they have been living in fear on their quiet, tree-lined New Jersey street.

For nearly a year, residents of Stockton Circle in Linden have been complaining Dykstra has been ruining the neighborhood with piles of garbage, fights and people coming and going at all hours from this two-story home turned rooming house.

They want him out and have appealed to the town for help.

“It all started when he moved in,” said Linda Graham, who lives nearby. “There’s been two overdoses. There’s been a scuffle on the front lawn. There’s been people who are here today, gone tomorrow. We don’t know who these people are and we are afraid.”

Linden City Councilwoman Gretchen Hickey accuses Dykstra of illegally renting out rooms in his house for $1,000 each – a violation of municipal ordinances.

“He’s advertised for boarders,” Hickey said. “There’s been 10 people living there at a time. He even made the garage into a room.”

A photo taken by a neighbor shows garbage piled high in front of the Linden home of former baseball great Lenny Dykstra.

Hickey said for the better part of a year she has been receiving angry calls and text messages from Dykstra’s neighbors.

“People are constantly moving in and out,” Hickey said. “(His neighbors) have no quality of life whatsoever. They live in fear.”

Hickey said neighbors once spotted someone pouring a yellowish liquid out of a second-floor window. Other times, neighbors have complained they’ve been awakened in the middle of the night by hammering and other “building noises” coming from the home.

The councilwoman says Dykstra has been taken to court for housing and fire code violations but she said the disruptions continue.

“I think certain departments in this city have dropped the ball,” Graham said.

According to city records obtained by NJ Advance Media, construction code inspectors entered the home on Jan. 10 and observed a bedroom on the first floor. On the second floor, they found four bedrooms, a laundry area, office with a desk and chair and two bathrooms.

All of the rooms had keyed locks that Dykstra was unable to open, according to inspectors.

On the first floor, Dykstra was unable to open a door in the kitchen leading to the garage because he did not have a key, the inspectors wrote.

“As the owner who actually resides in his house, he should be able to open” those doors, the inspectors wrote.

City records show Linden police were called to the home at 11 a.m. on Sept. 13, 2018 and that “multiple on-site occupants admitted to renting rooms at this one-family dwelling.”

A summons was issued to Dykstra, who paid a $500 fine on Oct. 23, 2018. The municipal prosecutor also ordered the former baseball star to “remove all illegal occupants within 30 days” or face another summons.

Records show the police have been called to the home several times.

On Dec. 1, 2017, Dykstra called police to say he returned from a trip to South Dakota to find someone had stolen his paintings, his ceiling was leaking and that his basement was flooded.

In 2018, there were calls to police from residents in the home about fights, arguing and noise, according to city records.

Lenny Dykstra in a mugshot after his arrest last year.

According to a New York Times report from 2011, Dykstra was once a multi-millionaire who was paid more than $1 million a year in his heyday.

Celebrity Net Worth reports Dykstra’s net worth is negative $25 million.

Following his big league career – he played for the New York Mets from 1985 to 1989 and the Philadelphia Phillies from 1989 to 1996 – Dykstra's had a history of legal issues.

Among them:

In 2012, he admitted looting valuables from his $18 million California mansion and secretly selling them after he filed for bankruptcy in 2009.

Dykstra pleaded guilty to three counts of bankruptcy fraud, concealment of bankruptcy property, and money laundering and served six-and-a-half months in prison.

In 2015, he was charged with stealing $50,000 in jewelry from a porn star.

In May 2018, Dykstra was arrested and charged with making terroristic threats, and two counts of possession of a controlled substance - one for cocaine the other for methamphetamine after an altercation with an Uber driver. That case remains pending.

Neither Dykstra nor his attorney could be reached for comment Thursday.

Staff writer Alex Napoliello contributed to this report.

Anthony G. Attrino may be reached at tattrino@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @TonyAttrino. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

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