A Florida homeowner says she never imagined her front yard would land her behind bars. But that’s exactly what happened to 39-year-old Irena Green, who was arrested in May after her local homeowners’ association accused her of failing to maintain her property to its standards.

The charges stemmed from a lawsuit filed by The Trowbridge Company Inc., which manages her Hillsborough County community. In court filings, the company cited “browning grass,” a dirty mailbox, and the presence of a commercial van as violations of neighborhood appearance rules. Green says the demands only escalated over time.

“The grass has started turning brown. So then they started sending notes,” Green recalled in an interview with ABC Action News. “And it went from the grass being brown to there’s a dent in my garage.”

After the suit was filed, a judge gave her 30 days to fix the issues or risk jail time. Green says she did everything she could to comply. “I sold my van to comply. My mailbox was cleaned to comply. I bought seeds and watered my grass to comply,” she said.

But things still spiraled. When she missed a follow-up court date in August 2024—one she insists she was never notified about—an arrest warrant was issued. “I was supposed to receive documentation. Nothing was sent to my home. And I reached out to the courthouse several times to try to find out my court date,” she said.

On May 23, while picking up her teenage daughter from cheer practice, Green was pulled over and arrested. She spent a week in jail. “There was no bond. So I couldn’t even go home to my family,” she said. “I sat in there for seven days in the jailhouse like a criminal.”

According to jail records, Green faced two charges: contempt of court and failure to comply with a court’s order to show cause. She was eventually released after her family presented evidence to a different judge that her lawn and property had, in fact, been cleaned up.

The episode has left her shaken. “It makes me feel horrible. I work hard to buy this home for me and my kids in a better neighborhood and environment, and to be taken to jail and to be treated like that for brown grass at my own home … that’s horrible,” Green said.

Neither the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office nor The Trowbridge Company responded to requests for comment. For Green, the ordeal has turned what should have been a minor neighborhood dispute into a life-altering ordeal—one that raises broader questions about power, property, and how far HOAs can go.