Mom says she's being evicted over autistic son's support dog

WEST ST. PAUL, Minn. (KMSP) - Just when apartment living was supposed to get easier for Cassandra Jahnke and her 4-year-old autistic son Gianni, life at home has instead gotten exponentially more stressful.

“I’m working with the Minnesota Department of Human Rights because they agree that they’re trying any reason to get me out of here because they want his dog gone,” Jahnke said.

She got permission for Gianni’s service dog, Ruger, to live in her Somerset Green unit in West St. Paul last October. Ever since Ruger legally joined their family, Jahnke says she’s become a target.

“They’re trying to find any possible way of evicting me,” she said.

On June 30, a neighbor who was in the process of getting condemned knocked on Jahnke’s door.

“She asked me to keep her animals here because animal control was going to come to take them,” she said.

Jahnke held caged ferrets for less than 24 hours, at which point, a complex employee advised they be taken out. The eviction notice cites the incident as the top reason for leaving Jahnke and her son in a tough spot.
She was assaulted in the home in November, but incident was added to the eviction as a “nuisance” and the secondary reason she is being forced away.

“It’s a lot to handle, there’s already a lot of stress in the house with his disability and I don’t even know where I’m going. That’s the hardest part,” she said.

Scott Bailey, the owner of Somerset Green, said he has no comment on the eviction.