VISTA -- Legal wrangling between the founder of the San Diego Minutemen and a former spokeswoman for the anti-illegal immigration group came to an end with a judge's ruling in one case Thursday, but began anew with the filing of a different lawsuit in the Superior Court.
Jeff Schwilk, the group's founder and an Oceanside resident, and Christie Czajkowski, the former spokeswoman for the group, have been locked in a public battle since an altercation at Schwilk's home last month. The legal disputes have included Schwilk obtaining a temporary restraining order against Czajkowski and allegations from Czajkowski that Schwilk manhandled her.
A Superior Court judge on Thursday allowed the temporary restraining order to expire, and Czajkowski filed a civil lawsuit Wednesday against Schwilk, seeking $700,000 in damages. The lawsuit was served on Schwilk Thursday at the courthouse.
The new developments in the civil courts came as San Diego police continue a criminal investigation in connection with vandalism in January at three migrant camps in Rancho Penasquitos in an area frequented by the San Diego Minutemen.
As part of the investigation, officers searched Czajkowski's Chula Vista home and seized her computer and other items after a migrant worker told police he saw the woman in a group of people vandalizing the camp.
Czajkowski and Schwilk said in separate interviews Thursday outside the Vista Courthouse that they had nothing to do with the vandalism incident.
The San Diego Minutemen are a group of activists against illegal immigration. The group frequently organizes rallies to protest the hiring of day laborers in North County.
Czajkowski and Schwilk appeared in court Thursday for a hearing to determine whether the temporary restraining order Schwilk obtained against Czajkowski would become permanent. Schwilk sought the restraining order after a Feb. 4 altercation with Czajkowski at Schwilk's Oceanside home. The two used to have a dating relationship.
Czajkowski, who often has videotaped the Minutemen rallies, caught part of the incident at Schwilk's home on video, and it was broadcast on the Internet.
After hearing testimony from Schwilk and Czajkowski and reviewing documents they submitted, Superior Court Judge Laura Parsky eliminated the temporary restraining order and declined to grant Schwilk a permanent restraining order against Czajkowski. Parsky ruled that Schwilk had failed to prove by clear and convincing evidence that Czajkowski had committed unlawful violence, made a credible threat of violence, or engaged in a willful course of conduct that seriously alarmed, annoyed, or harassed Schwilk without a legitimate purpose for her actions.
The Feb. 4 incident that occurred at Schwilk's home also is the basis for a new lawsuit that Czajkowski filed Wednesday against Schwilk.
Czajkowski alleges in the lawsuit that Schwilk "beat, struck, punched, dragged and battered" her, and she is seeking $700,000 in damages.
Schwilk said the lawsuit's allegations are "lies and false statements." Two others involved with the Minutemen were with Schwilk at the courthouse and said they witnessed the Feb. 4 incident -- Mari Hayden and a man named Daniel who declined to give his last name -- said Thursday that the actions alleged in the lawsuit did not occur.
Schwilk and Czajkowski also separately addressed Thursday the police investigation of vandalism at a Rancho Penasquitos migrant camps.
In an affidavit filed with the Superior Court to obtain a search warrant for Czajkowski's home, Detective Patrick Lenhart alleged that between 1:30 p.m. and 3 p.m. Jan. 27, two women and four men were seen leaving their cars and walking in the canyon areas where three encampments were vandalized.
One of the women was seen videotaping the others as they destroyed property at one of the camps, Lenhart wrote in the affidavit.
One of the men who alleged his property was damaged, Roberto Pena, identified Czajkowski in a photographic lineup as one of the women with the group who he saw damaging his property. Czajkowski said she was at a rally in Orange County on Jan. 27 until about 3:30 p.m. or 4 p.m., when she arrived in Rancho Penasquitos to give Schwilk a check she had received for him at the rally.
Schwilk said police know the Minutemen go the migrant camp areas in Rancho Penasquitos often and were there the morning of Jan. 27. Schwilk said, though, that the group did not do any of the vandalism that has been alleged.
Schwilk's picture was included in a photographic lineup shown to Pena and another man, Joel Rodriguez, who saw people walking into the canyon, but neither man identified Schwilk as someone they saw, Lenhart wrote in the search warrant affidavit..
Schwilk and Czajkowski said they have talked to police, but have not heard from investigators for some time.
Monica Munoz, a San Diego police spokeswoman, said the investigation is ongoing, with investigators still talking to witnesses.
"They're definitely still working on it," Munoz said.
- Contact staff writer Scott Marshall at (760) 631-6623 or smarshall@nctimes.com.
