CHARLESTON — A woman who was accused in March of killing her neighbor's hen and punching him in the chest was arrested again last week after she cursed at him and flipped him the bird, prosecutors said.
Michelle Conti, 33, was arrested May 1 after she got into an argument with Charles Gabel, 80, in front of their Sharrotts Road home, according to a criminal report. She screamed "f--k you" at him and showed him her middle finger, the Staten Island Advance first reported.
The latest incident violated an order of protection issued against her after the first arrest, according to court documents. Conti was charged with criminal contempt and harassment at her arraignment on May 2.
"I'm so used to her cursing at me and giving me the bird, it's just another thing," Gabel said. "Nothing's ever going to stop her."
Gabel said the latest argument started after he called the city on Gabel's husband for tearing up trees and dragging them around the streets.
Conti and her lawyers could not be reached for comment, but she told the Advance that she hadn't verbally abused her neighbor and didn't even leave her house that day.
Gabel said he gave police footage from his security camera of her giving him the middle finger.
"I don't know how she gets away with it," he said. "How she could possibly say she wasn't outside this day, but we have her on tape outside showing the bird to me?"
The arrest is the latest in a long simmering feud between the two neighbors. In March, Conti was accused of running over one of Gabel's hens, kicking the dead bird and sticking a cigarette in its mouth. She then took pictures of the bird, prosecutors said.
Conti's husband, Vincent Conti, 47, was also arrested in October 2013 for showing his genitals to Gabel's 57-year-old wife, Angela, according to court documents.
All of the trouble between the neighbors started a year ago when Gabel asked his new neighbors to stop letting their pitbull relieve himself in the lot across the street, he said.
There have been dozens of 311 complaints and police visits to the home since then, mostly for noise complaints, Gabel said.
However, Conti told police after her first arrest that 20 hens Gabel keeps in his backyard kept her family up all night, according to court documents.
"They are driving me crazy and they own over 15 hens. They make noises from sunup to sundown, which cause me not to sleep. They s--t all over my yard and street."
Conti also previously told the Advance that she was irked about a Nazi flag with a swastika on it that Gabel hangs in his garage. He said he had because he's interested in history and is of German descent.
"We just want to live in peace," he said.
