Slumlord Placed Under House Arrest

A convicted slumlord has been ordered to spend 30 days under house arrest in one of his Downtown apartment units because he missed a court-imposed deadline for making repairs to the building.

Elfego Montes de Oca, 49, failed to fix by Nov. 11 the slum conditions at the three-story, 38-unit apartment house he owns at 907 E. 7th St., according to city prosecutors.

De Oca surrendered at 10 a.m. Friday to begin serving the 30-day term in a second-floor apartment. De Oca cannot leave the building except for a medical emergency or court appearances and must wear an electronic device that allows authorities to monitor his movements, according to Deputy City Atty. Mike Wilkinson.

Los Angeles Municipal Court Commissioner Barry Kohn also set a new deadline of Feb. 2 for repairs to be made and a Feb. 11 court hearing to review whether De Oca has complied.

De Oca plead no contest in August to charges of slum conditions at the 7th Street building and another apartment building he owns in Hollywood. He had been on probation since Aug. 26, when he was ordered to pay about $20,000 in fines, perform 100 hours of community service and make repairs by specified dates.

De Oca also missed the Oct. 6 deadline set for repairs at the Hollywood property and was sentenced Oct. 16 to work 80 hours at the Midnight Mission, a homeless shelter on Skid Row.

City prosecutors filed criminal charges against De Oca after Slum Housing Task Force investigators allegedly found numerous fire, building and health code violations at his buildings in March.

De Oca has owned the Downtown building since January, 1985, and the Hollywood building since 1988. He lives in the Hollywood building, according to his attorney, Michael Kogan.

“I don’t consider him a slumlord,” Kogan said of De Oca. “He’s basically a manager, who lives in one of these buildings.”