The judge ordered 62-year-old Edmond Aviv to display the sign for five hours. 'I am a bully' man: My life is ruined

SOUTH EUCLID, Ohio — An Ohio man ordered to spend five hours at a street corner with a sign declaring he’s a bully said his sentence was unfair and the judge who gave it to him ruined his life.

The Northeast Ohio Media Group reported that 62-year-old Edmond Aviv for the most part ignored honking horns and people who stopped by to talk with him Sunday in South Euclid.


But he wasn’t happy with the punishment, saying, “The judge destroyed me” and “This isn’t fair at all.”

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The judge ordered the sign to say: “I AM A BULLY.”

Aviv had pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor disorderly conduct charge. A neighbor said he had bullied her and her disabled children for the past 15 years.

A court probation officer monitored Aviv on Sunday.

Municipal Court Judge Gayle Williams-Byers ordered Aviv to display the sign for five hours Sunday. The judge selected the wording for it: “I AM A BULLY! I pick on children that are disabled, and I am intolerant of those that are different from myself. My actions do not reflect an appreciation for the diverse South Euclid community that I live in.”

The Northeast Ohio Media Group reported that Aviv arrived at the corner with the sign just before 9 a.m. Within a couple of minutes, a passing motorist honked a car horn. Later in the morning, he was sitting in a chair holding the hand-lettered sign in front of him.

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Aviv has feuded with his neighbor Sandra Prugh for the past 15 years, court records show. The most recent case stemmed from Aviv being annoyed at the smell coming from Prugh’s dryer vent when she did laundry, according to court records. In retaliation, Aviv hooked up kerosene to a fan, which blew the smell onto Pugh’s property, the records said.

Prugh has two adult adopted children with developmental disabilities, cerebral palsy and epilepsy; a husband with dementia, and a paralyzed son.

Prugh said in a letter to the court that Aviv had called her an ethnic slur while she was holding her adopted black children, spit on her several times, regularly threw dog feces on her son’s car windshield, and once smeared feces on a wheelchair ramp.

“I am very concerned for the safety of our family,” Prugh wrote in a letter to the court for Aviv’s sentencing. She said she just wants to live in peace.

The judge also ordered Aviv to serve 15 days in jail and to undergo anger management classes and counseling. He also had to submit an apology letter to Prugh.

“I want to express my sincere apology for acting irrationally towards your house and the safety of your children,” Aviv wrote. “I understand my actions could have caused harm but at that time I was not really thinking about it.”

This article tagged under: Courts

Harassment

Sentencing

Ohio