© 2025 Connecticut Public

FCC Public Inspection Files:
WEDH · WEDN · WEDW · WEDY
WEDW-FM · WNPR · WPKT · WRLI-FM
Public Files Contact · ATSC 3.0 FAQ
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

'Bully' Serves His Punishment: Holding Sign In Public

Edmond Aviv, 62, sits with a sign at a street corner in the Cleveland suburb of South Euclid Sunday. Aviv, who called his neighbor "monkey momma" as she held her adopted, disabled African-American children, was ordered by a judge to display the sign.
Aaron Josefczyk
/
Reuters /Landov
Edmond Aviv, 62, sits with a sign at a street corner in the Cleveland suburb of South Euclid Sunday. Aviv, who called his neighbor "monkey momma" as she held her adopted, disabled African-American children, was ordered by a judge to display the sign.

The sign tells the story.

"I am a bully," it reads. "I pick on children that are disabled, and I am intolerant of those that are different from myself. My actions do not reflect an appreciation for the diverse South Euclid community that I live in."

That sign was displayed next to a busy roadside in a Cleveland suburb Sunday by Edmond Aviv, after a court found that he had abused his neighbors with racial slurs and vandalism that sometimes included dog feces.

Many of those acts were aimed at Sandra Prugh, whom Aviv, 62, once called "monkey momma," according to The Cleveland Plain Dealer. The two have had problems for at least 15 years now. Here's how the newspaper describes Aviv's neighbor:

"Prugh has two adult adopted children with developmental disabilities, cerebral palsy and epilepsy, a husband suffering from dementia and a paralyzed son."

One of Aviv's complaints against the Prugh family was that their laundry vent emitted the scent of Downy, which bothered him. Court records show that he later made a device that blew kerosene fumes at the Prugh's residence.

Today, Aviv wore sunglasses and a hat as he sat by his sign, as a South Euclid, Ohio, judge recently ordered him to do.

The Plain Dealer says people honked car horns and yelled at Aviv as he sat by the road.

"The judge destroyed me," Aviv told the newspaper. "This isn't fair at all."

One of the court officials who checked up on Aviv today to be sure he carried out his punishment was South Euclid Municipal Court Bailiff Isaiah Simmons.

Simmons' son, Alex, 21, tells the Plain Dealer that Aviv used to yell at him, too, when he was growing up nearby.

"He called me porch monkey a couple times and the N-word," Alex Simmons said. "I told my parents at the time and they said to avoid his house and be the bigger person. This punishment is great. Justice has been served."

In addition to holding the sign, Aviv was also ordered to perform community service and get counseling, along with serving a short jail sentence. He also wrote a letter of apology to the Prugh family.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Bill Chappell is a writer and editor on the News Desk in the heart of NPR's newsroom in Washington, D.C.

The independent journalism and non-commercial programming you rely on every day is in danger.

If you’re reading this, you believe in trusted journalism and in learning without paywalls. You value access to educational content kids love and enriching cultural programming.

Now all of that is at risk.

Federal funding for public media is under threat and if it goes, the impact to our communities will be devastating.

Together, we can defend it. It’s time to protect what matters.

Your voice has protected public media before. Now, it’s needed again. Learn how you can protect the news and programming you depend on.

SOMOS CONNECTICUT is an initiative from Connecticut Public, the state’s local NPR and PBS station, to elevate Latino stories and expand programming that uplifts and informs our Latino communities. Visit CTPublic.org/latino for more stories and resources. For updates, sign up for the SOMOS CONNECTICUT newsletter at ctpublic.org/newsletters.

SOMOS CONNECTICUT es una iniciativa de Connecticut Public, la emisora local de NPR y PBS del estado, que busca elevar nuestras historias latinas y expandir programación que alza y informa nuestras comunidades latinas locales. Visita CTPublic.org/latino para más reportajes y recursos. Para noticias, suscríbase a nuestro boletín informativo en ctpublic.org/newsletters.

The independent journalism and non-commercial programming you rely on every day is in danger.

If you’re reading this, you believe in trusted journalism and in learning without paywalls. You value access to educational content kids love and enriching cultural programming.

Now all of that is at risk.

Federal funding for public media is under threat and if it goes, the impact to our communities will be devastating.

Together, we can defend it. It’s time to protect what matters.

Your voice has protected public media before. Now, it’s needed again. Learn how you can protect the news and programming you depend on.

Related Content