Costa Mesa raids sober-living home over number of tenants

Costa Mesa officials served a search warrant on a sober-living home Tuesday as part of a crackdown on properties hosting an illegal number of recovering addicts.

A code enforcement team found 18 beds — including seven in one room — in a group home on Senate Street, according to a news release from the city. Sober-living homes in Costa Mesa neighborhoods zoned for single-family residences are allowed up to six tenants and a house manager, for a total of seven beds.

Before getting the warrant, officials said, they warned the property owner about excessive occupancy on April 24. That came after firefighters responded to a medical call at the two-story, six-bedroom house and were told 16 people lived there.

City officials said they obtained the search warrant from an Orange County Superior Court judge after nearby residents complained for months about cigarette smoke, cursing, loud arguments, traffic and advertisements for Alcoholics Anonymous meetings.

“We won’t tolerate these kind of bad neighbors in Costa Mesa,” city Chief Executive Tom Hatch said in a statement. “This illegal operation damages the quality of life in our neighborhoods and casts a bad light on conscientious operators of group homes in our community.”

City spokesman Bill Lobdell said he believes the stepped-up enforcement is a first for Costa Mesa, which has been trying to find effective ways to regulate group homes that have proliferated in its neighborhoods.

After the city issued its warning, the number of tenants at the home remained too high, the city said, and Costa Mesa issued a citation Sept. 30, followed by an inspection Oct. 29.

On that day, inspectors found only seven beds, but “less than three hours later, the city received photos of two trucks moving additional beds into the house,” the city news release stated.

With that evidence in hand, a judge issued the warrant Nov. 10.

The city attorney’s office is sifting through evidence gathered Tuesday to decide what civil or criminal penalties officials may pursue, Deputy City Attorney Elena Gerli said.

City officials said they obtained the warrant after property owner Saroj Gupta didn’t respond to the warning or citation. But a man who identified himself Thursday as Viney Gupta, Saroj’s husband, said she is dead and that the property is now owned by a trust.

Viney Gupta said the raid was “news to me,” adding that he was surprised the city would go that far.

Irvine Property Management Inc. handles all business related to the house, Gupta said. “I think they get some bad tenants once in a while,” he said.

The organization running the sober-living home, which the city identified as Serenity Shores Recovery Center, did not respond to a request for comment.

Gary Sully, president of Irvine Property Management, said Friday that he didn’t know the property was a sober-living home until the city contacted his company about it months ago.

Since then, managers have been “working with the city hand in hand” to bring the house into compliance with regulations, he said.

Sully said he was unaware of Tuesday’s raid until the Daily Pilot contacted him.