Calvin Klein’s ex-boy toy Nick Gruber has been accused of being a drug-slinging roommate from hell by a California man battling Parkinson’s Disease—and now a judge ruled the man must pay Gruber for the trouble.
Santa Rosa resident Richard Jones told ABC 7 News that he and his husband, Alfonso Monreal, took Gruber in as a tenant in 2021. However, things quickly turned sour, according to Jones.
“I don’t want this to happen to anybody else,” said a teary-eyed Jones in an interview with ABC 7 News host Dan Noyes. At first, Gruber “seemed like a very nice guy” and he made a “good first impression,” said Jones. “He’s young, single, so he said.”
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Yet Gruber’s self-described work “in the drug industry” soon started to follow him home. Neighbors recalled cars and men coming and going to the house at all hours of the night. When the Santa Rosa police responded to a landlord-tenant dispute call at the home, they executed a warrantless search and seizure of Gruber’s “person, vehicle and property” because he was on probation, said Santa Rosa Police Sgt. Patricia Seffens.
In Gruber’s side of the house, police found a locked safe with a semiautomatic firearm inside, nine pounds of meth and $10,000 in cash, according to Steffens.
Gruber insisted that he wasn’t a drug dealer. “I was a broker,” he said, in an interview with Noyes about the incident. “I would just—I’ll call the client, and then I would get a hold of the person who’s the supplier and arrange the deals.”
“I did my research, and I did a background check,” said Jones, explaining that he knew Gruber was Klein’s ex. But what he didn’t know was Gruber was still “chasing the lights.”
Gruber was arrested and charged with possession for sale of a controlled substance, in excess of methamphetamine, possession of a firearm by a felon, identity theft and forgery. He served two years in prison and was released in 2023.
Gruber then reportedly found Jones and Monreal at their new home in Oakland and demanded they turn over the belongings he left behind, alleging that they had “a duty and obligation to protect my property” as his landlords.
When Jones told Gruber that the items had been donated, Gruber sued Jones for $182,000 to cover the value of his property and $233,000 more in damages. When Gruber could not proof his property value, a judge ruled held Jones responsible for $8,683.
Jones said he is broke and the stress of the situation has compounded his Parkinson’s Disease symptoms.
“(I’m) very emotional because it affects me so bad and still having to fight and have the memories come back of what I went through,” he said.
Meanwhile Gruber said he is sorry for his part. “Yes. I mean, I apologize for what has happened. I do from the heart, I apologize,” he told Noyes. “I mean, it shouldn't end that way, or it shouldn't have ever happened.”
Back when Gruber was on Klein’s arm, they had a 48-year age difference. He claims that he will be writing a tell-all book about his time in the legendary clothier’s social circle. Klein, 81, has not commented on the situation.
