An elderly man in his eighties who has long caused problems in the St. Louis Hills neighborhood near St. Raphael has been ordered to pay a former tenant and a neighbor $120,000 in damages.
On Friday, a judge determined that Roland Clubb is liable for assaulting Paul Beffa and Carolyn Mueller—Beffa being a former tenant of Clubb’s and Mueller being a neighbor of the rental property. Clubb was also found responsible for wrongfully evicting Beffa, who operates Beffa’s Bar & Restaurant in Downtown West.
Get a fresh take on the day’s top news
We will never send spam or annoying emails. Unsubscribe anytime.
Beffa began renting a home from Clubb on Jamieson Avenue in June 2023. The landlord-tenant relationship deteriorated quickly. Clubb constructed a makeshift wall across the center of the property’s driveway, blocking Beffa’s access to his garage. When Beffa objected to the wall, Clubb suggested he leave if he was unhappy with the arrangement. Clubb subsequently displayed a “for lease” sign in front of the house, threatened Beffa with turbulent times ahead, and removed part of Beffa’s air conditioning unit during extreme 90-degree heat.
As Beffa was moving his belongings out, Clubb approached him and displayed a gun. Beffa was able to photograph Clubb with the weapon visible in his waistband before the 82-year-old brandished it.
Mueller, the neighboring resident, reported that Clubb verbally harassed her and attempted to strike her with his truck as she crossed Jamieson Avenue. Clubb reversed his vehicle and accelerated, forcing Mueller to leap out of the way to avoid being hit.
Mueller and Beffa filed a joint lawsuit against Clubb, which went to trial before Judge Rochelle Woodiest in January. On Friday, the judge ordered Clubb to pay Mueller $45,000 and Beffa $75,000.
These incidents occurred near St. Raphael the Archangel Church. In November, Clubb pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor assault charge for attempting to run over a church maintenance worker who confronted him about dumping trash in the church’s dumpsters. He received a probationary sentence.
Clubb is scheduled to return to court later this month to face a separate assault charge stemming from an incident in the same Jamieson Avenue area. He is accused of standing in the bed of his pickup truck and striking a woman walking on the sidewalk with “a piece of vinyl or aluminum.”
Editor’s note: The original version of this story misstated an allegation in the fourth paragraph as being made against Beffa. It was made against Clubb. We regret the error.
