Motel Heavily Damaged After Eviction Notice

Residents evicted from an Anaheim motel last week severely damaged their rooms before moving out, a city code enforcement official said Monday.

The official, Bruce Freeman, said departing occupants of six apartments at the Casa Cordova Motel, 3360 W. Lincoln Ave., “literally destroyed their apartments.”

“They broke all the cupboards and drawers, and broke the toilets in half--smashed them with hammers,” he said.

“They also left garbage all throughout the apartments and put large holes in the acoustic ceilings and the dry walls,” he said. On a previous visit, Freeman said he observed trash piled in the courtyards and saw residents of the three-story building throwing beer cans out their windows into the swimming pool, which contained greenish water.

Trespassing Complaints

Last week, Joan Sheets and John Kampmann, who manage the hotel for Ha’Penny Inns, filed civil trespassing complaints against about 18 residents of the complex who had refused to pay their rent until allegedly substandard conditions were corrected.

Although Anaheim police said “three or four” people were arrested after failing to leave the premises last week, Legal Aid attorney Jeanne Blackwell managed to secure a promise from Capt. Randall Gaston, acting police chief in Anaheim, that no arrests would be made after Thursday evening because of questions about the legality of the eviction notices.

Freeman said the managers of the building believed it was necessary to clear the complex of residents before correcting conditions such as broken windows, cockroach infestation, and electrical wiring hazards.

“The owners are cooperating and they’ve taken care of everything I’ve asked them to do,” Freeman said. “They’re using every tool they have to clear the building, but the tenants are not cooperating. (The owners) are trying to get rid of the troublemakers, the ones who are destroying the property.”

Freeman said Ha’Penny Inns had already replaced buckled sidewalks and fire extinguishers in the 386-unit motel, ordered 300 new steel doors and resurfaced the second- and third-story landings where large holes had been.

He said the owners also planned to completely refurbish the rooms as current residents moved out. “What I recommended is that they start moving people from the bad apartments into the new apartments,” he said.

The building’s managers and Legal Aid attorney Crystal Sims, who is handling the tenants’ eviction complaints, could not be reached for comment Monday.