A shadowy figure of a person wearing a derby style hat is seen inside a side window at the of Nakoula home on Saturday. Randy Economy Photo
By Brian Hews
The family of the Nakoula Basseley Nakoula have left their now famous two-story Cerritos home in the cloak of darkness with the assistance of the Cerritos Sheriff’s Department.
At 3:40 a.m. on Monday, three unmarked sheriff’s vehicles converged on the normally obscure residential cul-de-sac to escort family members of the 55-year-old anti-Islamic film maker. Each of the family members had their faces concealed.
Around 24-hours earlier, Nakoula was escorted by deputies from his Park Street home as members of the media took photos of one of the most controversial people in the world.
Nakoula and his family are not under arrest, and are not currently being charged with any crimes, a spokesperson for the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said. The filmmaker was interviewed by federal probation officials at the Cerritos Sheriff Station on Sunday morning and was apparently taken to an undisclosed “safe” location by law enforcement.
On Monday, a handful of media trucks continued to be at the Cerritos location. It was a chaotic scene on Park Street over the weekend that saw a throng of media members converge on the well-kept neighborhood.
“The circus is finally leaving our neighborhood,” one resident on Park Street told Los Cerritos Community Newspaper on Monday afternoon who did not want to be identified.
“Now what can we expect, people are still being killed around the globe. It is on every news channel. I don’t feel safe here,” said another Park Street resident who also sought anonymity.
On Thursday late afternoon, Los Cerritos Community Newspaper spoke to someone inside the house, through a closed front door who did not identify himself. ”I have nothing to say to you, please leave. I am telling you, leave me alone. I want you to leave, we want to be left alone,” the person said.
The home is located off of Bloomfield Avenue near the 91 Freeway.
Los Cerritos Community Newspaper confirmed that Nakoula’s three children are ages 13, 19 and 21.
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