Couple Plead Not Guilty in Housing Case

An Anaheim couple pleaded not guilty Thursday to violating the city’s housing codes and are scheduled for a jury trial next month in North Orange County Municipal Court in connection with the five-count complaint, which alleges that the couple owned and managed a substandard building.

Harold H. Brody and his wife, Shelly Brody, were charged after a door-to-door check of the Lynne-Jeffrey neighborhood by city code building inspectors revealed substandard conditions at the couple’s eight-unit apartment building at 1601 S. Hampstead St., according to John Poole, Anaheim code enforcement and housing supervisor.

Inspectors found broken windows, graffiti, and an accumulation of refuge and waste at the eight-unit apartment building at 1601 S. Hampstead St., Poole said. The Brodys also were charged with failing to maintain the landscape and leaving part of the building abandoned. Poole said the city has about 500 such cases each year. About 60% are for violations such as overgrown weeds or broken windows, he said. Most are settled by compliance and a fine. The city prosecutes about 5% of the landlords, he added.

Anaheim Assistant City Atty. Mark Logan said a pretrial conference is scheduled April 26, with the jury trial set for May 13. If found guilty, the couple face a maximum of six months in jail and a $1,000 fine for each count.