Bell Gardens

The City of Bell Gardens has filed lawsuits in Huntington Park Municipal Court charging two landlords with multiple public nuisance, health and building code violations.

Dean Nelson, owner of seven apartment units on East Gage Avenue, has been charged with 30 misdemeanor counts for substandard conditions on his property, City Prosecutor Cary Reisman said. Those conditions include insufficient trash containers, holes in the walls, peeling paint, missing window screens, cockroach infestation, no ventilation and broken doors and windows, he said.

“Most of these same conditions have existed since 1980,” Reisman said.

The city has charged Harold Wilder with 12 misdemeanor counts for code violations at rental units he owns on Priory Street, Reisman said. For several years, he said, substandard conditions on the property--including deteriorated flooring in the bathroom and kitchen, moldy bathroom walls, faulty electrical wiring and leaks in the bathroom and kitchen--have gone uncorrected.