One of the major downsides of living in an apartment complex has to be how close you are to your neighbors. From hearing every sound that goes on in the apartment next to you to listening to the echoes of footsteps falling above you, apartment living can be a noisy experience.
Add to that the fact that some neighbors are worse than others and intentionally go out of their way to make the lives of those living around them terrible, and you have a recipe for disaster.
That’s exactly what happened to one Oregon woman, who says that her upstairs neighbor intentionally overflowed his bathtub in an attempt to flood her basement apartment. According to the Baker City Herald, 58-year-old Brian Michael Rust has been arrested for his role in the water damage.
It seems like this may be part of a larger harassment campaign, since the downstairs neighbor actually commented on the Facebook post about the story, sparking theories about what was really going on.
Rust Allegedly Caused $5,000 Worth of Damage
The neighbor was arrested around 10:30 a.m. local time on Aug. 16, 2026, after allegedly trying to flood his neighbor’s home, requiring the city’s public works department to shut off the water. The apartment manager accuses Rust of causing at least $5,000 worth of damage to the property. He was taken into custody and charged with several crimes, including second-degree criminal trespassing, first-, second-, and third-degree criminal mischief, interfering with a police officer, and unlawful entry into a motor vehicle.
That last charge stems from what officers say they witnessed on a nearby security camera, which appears to show Rust letting the air out of the tires on his neighbor’s vehicle, leaving food scattered around the inside of the automobile, and pouring hot chocolate on the seat.
However, the Baker City Herald doesn’t clarify whether or not this was the same neighbor who lives in the basement apartment.
The Downstairs Neighbor Commented on the Newspaper’s Report
A Facebook post about the incident sheds a bit more light on what may have happened, as people in the community began commenting on the news. “Let’s not forget his other actions of looking in his neighbor’s windows and attempting to open her doors, unbeknownst to her until someone told her,” one person wrote. “Going through her garbage and vandalizing her porch step items this weekend all whilst she’s sleeping. Absolutely creepy and terrifying! Mental health affects all those around them, and this man should not be left unsupervised.”
“Sounds like stalking,” another person wrote.
But the most surprising comment came from the downstairs neighbor herself. “I am the neighbor in question,” she wrote. While she didn’t elaborate on what happened or her relationship with the man, it does seem like this story is more than meets the eye. Hopefully, the downstairs neighbor can rest a little bit easier with Rust in jail, where the Baker City Herald says he was as of Aug. 17.