The Region : Aid to Skid Row Is Landlord’s Sentence

A Woodland Hills man has been ordered to pay more than $9,000 in fines and restitution and to contribute $5,000 to a Skid Row charity after he was convicted for the second time in five years of failing to correct slum conditions at a central Los Angeles apartment house he owns, authorities said. Rudolph Staback, 56, pleaded no contest in Los Angeles Municipal Court to 10 violations of fire, health and building and safety codes at the four-story, 48-unit building at 681 S. Burlington Ave., said Los Angeles City Atty. James K. Hahn. The $5,000 contribution to Para Los Ninos “was appropriate,” Hahn said, “since it will be used to help people being victimized in much the same way” that Staback’s tenants have been. Last year, 15 families won a $500,000 settlement from him in a landmark civil case involving conditions at another apartment building he owns.