LAGUNA BEACH : Street Musician Sues Over Loss of Property

In a handwritten lawsuit, a homeless street musician charged on Wednesday that city officials threw away his belongings, including at least six musical instruments, while he was in custody.

“While I was in jail you stole my property,” wrote 41-year-old Clifford H. Mabra Jr. in court documents.

Among the musical items Mabra listed were a clarinet, three flutes, a saxophone and an acoustic guitar, a pitch pipe, tuning fork, reeds and a music book.

According to a police report, Mabra had been cited at least three times for sleeping in a parking structure in the 300 block of Glenneyre Street.

“Due to the fact that there was a reasonable likelihood that the offenses would continue,” wrote Sgt. Robert Rahaeuser, Mabra was booked on April 6, 1993.

Material held for storage, according to the property report, included a “shopping cart containing numerous bags, boxes and containers with musical items. Nothing of notable value.”

Mabra said in his suit that when he returned May 21 to claim his belongings, “he was told it had been thrown away in the trash dumpster.”

Police officials declined to comment on the suit, but Sgt. Mike Hall said Mabra “is one of the street people in town” who has played his saxophone downtown for the past 10 years.

Hall said that normally seized property is neither destroyed nor discarded.

Mabra, who lists his home address as St. Mary’s Episcopal Church--where he also is registered to vote--could not be reached for comment.

In 1988, a Superior Court commissioner ordered Santa Ana police to stop throwing away belongings of transients.