Make Repairs or Go to Jail, Landlord Is Told : Courts: Judge gives Huntington Harbour man $11,350 fine, 2 years’ probation and 500 hours’ community service, orders him to hire contractor to fix apartments.

A Huntington Harbour man convicted of operating a roach-infested, substandard apartment complex in Montebello has been ordered to fix the apartments or go to jail.

Mark Bent, 72, this week was fined $11,350 and sentenced to two years of probation, which could be reduced to summary or unsupervised probation in six months if he makes repairs to two run-down buildings, which have 24 apartment units each. In addition, he was ordered to serve 500 hours of community service.

Municipal Judge Henry Barelas also told Bent that he must hire contractors to do the necessary repairs.

“If you decide to play games and make Band-Aid repairs, I’ll just put you in jail,” Barelas said.

During a three-day trial in February when Bent represented himself, a Montebello city attorney and code enforcement officer accused the landlord of making cheap fixes to major problems.

Bent fixed leaky roofs with strips of tar paper and leaky plumbing with pieces of rubber, prosecutors said. When leaks created water damage, Bent patched walls and ceilings with plaster but did not sand, seal or paint the patches. When cockroaches overran the tiny two-bedroom units, which rent for $580 a month, exterminators treated one apartment at a time--not the whole building. Cracks in floorboards and walls were left unsealed, prosecutors said.

Bent was found guilty of six misdemeanors and one infraction. He had been charged with 93 misdemeanors.

Prosecutors had recommended a much stiffer sentence, including jail time.

Bent said Tuesday that he was unhappy with the judge’s sentence and blamed most of the problems at the Greenwood Avenue apartments on his tenants.

“I don’t think there should be any judgment against me because we have resistance from tenants. It’s not my fault,” Bent said, producing documents signed by four tenants who refused to let him in to their apartments to spray for bugs.

When asked if the documents had been translated for the Spanish-speaking tenants, Bent said, “I think we should all realize this is an English-speaking country, and they have an obligation to learn the language.”

Bent, who was born in Russia and immigrated to the United States about 50 years ago, said he planned to make all the court-ordered repairs, has already installed a $24,500 roof and has a contract with an exterminator.

A retired health inspector, Bent was told that he could spend his 500 hours of community service teaching his tenants to keep cleaner households.

Montebello code enforcement officer Meg Perry said she doubted Bent’s willingness to make real changes and arrived in court with seven jars of cockroaches and a dead mouse--all collected from the apartments in the past week.

“He hasn’t changed,” Perry said Tuesday. “I was there this week and saw one shower rod that wasn’t long enough, so he had wedged a smashed soda can between the wall and rod. He does that sort of thing all the time.”

Perry and attorney Peter E. Langsfeld, who represented the city, asked that Bent’s apartment buildings at 1249 and 1253 S. Greenwood Ave. be placed in the hands of a property management company and that Bent be forced to pay restitution to the city for court costs.

Barelas denied both requests, however, saying he would require Bent to hire contractors to do repairs. Barelas also denied the city’s request for restitution because the city was not the victim and defendants cannot be forced to pay for their own prosecution, he said.

Bent--who told a probation officer that his monthly income from 150 rental units scattered around the county is nearly $80,000--said after court Tuesday that he believes lawyers may have persuaded his tenants to file charges in hope they could win large settlements and buy their own homes.