5 Criminal Charges Filed Over Alleged Conditions at Complex

The Los Angeles city attorney’s office has filed criminal charges against the management of a 183-unit Tarzana apartment complex that was cited repeatedly in 1984 for health code violations.

The five-count misdemeanor complaint alleges that the management of Sunrise Villas failed to eradicate infestations of cockroaches, rodents and other vermin and failed to provide adequate room heating and hot water to tenants.

The complaint filed Friday in Van Nuys Municipal Court alleges that poor management practices have rendered “unfit for human habitation” dozens of units in the apartment complex at 18601 Hatteras St., just east of Reseda Boulevard.

Arraignment Set for 3 Defendants

Deputy City Atty. John Rocke said Monday that the three defendants will be served this week with notices of a Feb. 26 arraignment.

A spokesman for the complex denied the charges Monday. He blamed the failure to correct the problems on a lack of assistance by tenants and the county Department of Health Services.

Named as defendants were the M. L. Green Co. of Los Angeles, which heads the partnership that owns the complex; L. Boyd Higgins, chief executive officer and a director of M. L. Green, and Thomas Spear, president of TSC Properties Inc. of Los Angeles, which manages the complex.

Each is charged with four violations of the county health code and a fifth count alleging maintenance of a public nuisance.

The maximum penalty for each health charge is a $500 fine and six months in jail. The maximum penalty for the nuisance charge is $1,000 and six months in jail.

The public nuisance charge was added because of the failure to correct the problems after repeated citations, Rocke said.

“I think it’s one of the most severe violations we’ve had in the Valley just from the standpoint of the lack of attention,” Rocke said. “There have been a thousand promises and no correcting.”

In November, the county health services department and the city attorney’s office held an informal hearing with the management of the apartment complex, hoping to work out a plan to eliminate violations at the complex, Rocke said.

As a result of that hearing, complex officials agreed to spray every unit in the building for pests in December and January. It also agreed to ensure that all tenants were receiving hot water and room heating by the end of December.

A health department report filed with the criminal charges alleged, however, that three inspections of the complex in January uncovered evidence of “rodents, fleas, bedbugs, cockroaches, lice, mosquitoes and other vermin.”

Cold Rooms, Lukewarm Water Claimed

Also, the report said, dozens of apartment units in the complex were receiving cold air through their heating vents. In some units, the tap water temperature would not get hotter than 85 degrees, the report said.

Corporate papers filed in the case list the apartment complex as being owned by a limited partnership of 69 individual investors who purchased from one to 10 shares in 1970. There were 148 shares in all, each costing $3,000.

In the overall partnership, called Tara-Tarzana Ltd., M. L. Green Co., is listed as the general partner.

Spear, speaking for the apartment complex’s management, acknowledged that the building has had severe problems with pests and plumbing failures. But he said his firm has made substantial effort to correct those problems and has complied with every requirement set down by the city attorney during the November hearing.

Spear said he hired a Dallas plumbing contractor to analyze the heating and hot water problems. He said the consultant found that a new solar heating unit was connected improperly. Spear blamed that problem on the Southern California Gas Co., which he said gave the instructions for the connection.

Spear said his firm attempted to spray every unit in the complex for pests and did spray every unit in which the tenants cooperated.

He said more than 70 tenants either refused entry for spraying or did not properly prepare their apartments to prevent contamination of food, as required by law, before spraying.

Spear said the health department had promised to use its power to force tenants to comply with the pest treatment program, but that he received no help.

“They took no action whatsoever,” he said. “We have had not one peep from the health department since November.”

Four tenants have sued the apartment complex in Superior Court in Van Nuys, alleging damage caused by a rupture in the solar heating system in August. The suit has not come to trial.