SOUTH LOS ANGELES : Slumlord Receives 45-Day Jail Sentence
The owner of a South Los Angeles apartment house was sentenced Wednesday to 45 days in jail for failing to meet a court-imposed deadline for eliminating slum conditions at the building.
Los Angeles Municipal Court Judge Alan Ellis ordered Harold W. Dickens, 61, to surrender last Friday morning to begin serving his time, city attorney’s spokesman Mike Qualls said.
The South-Central Los Angeles man failed to meet a June 7 repair deadline and violated his probation on his original slum conviction last July, Qualls said.
Deputy Dist. Atty. Lawrence P.V. Punter said Ellis also ordered Dickens to pay $741 in investigative costs, and set a June 21 deadline for getting repairs done at the 20-unit building at 1241-1245 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
Dickens pleaded no contest on July 21 to 10 fire, health, building and safety violations. He was placed on three years probation and fined $10,084.
City investigators who checked the building in January and April found damaged electrical devices, inadequate fire doors, lack of heat, broken windows, cockroach and rodent infestation and trash.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
