Bell Gardens : Landlord Admits Violations
A Bell Gardens landlord charged with 29 misdemeanor counts of maintaining substandard property changed his plea to guilty last week.
E. H. Benson was charged in June under the city’s rehabilitation code for substandard property at 6358 Gallant Ave. and 6320-8 Clara St., according to Jim Guerra, deputy building official for the city.
“This is significant because it shows that longtime offenders will no longer be tolerated,” Guerra said. “We are admitting that it’s taken a long time to charge this man, but we are continually cracking down on offenders.”
Guerra said Benson was cited in 1983 after building officials found various construction equipment, including a large crane, in the yard of the Clara Street property.
Judge Russell F. Schooling of Huntington Park Municipal Court ordered Benson to pay more than $2,000 in fines and placed him on three years’ summary probation.
Benson, who had originally pleaded not guilty, was also ordered to repair all remaining substandard conditions and refrain from future violations or face up to a year in county jail.
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