Hotel Owners Face Host of Slum Charges : Courts: City attorney’s office files criminal complaint against couple who run a Wilmington complex that lacks heat and hot water. They blame destructive tenants and say they are working daily to complete repairs.

The city attorney’s office filed criminal charges Tuesday against the owners of a Wilmington residential hotel plagued with roaches, broken windows and a lack of heating and hot water.

Roy Molina Aquino, 50, and his wife, Terry M. Aquino, 57, both of Costa Mesa, are charged with 23 violations involving a range of health, safety and fire codes at the Don Hotel at 105 East I St.

They are scheduled to be arraigned Dec. 28 in Los Angeles Municipal Court.

Inspectors with the city’s Slum Housing Task Force visited the 128-room complex on several occasions between Aug. 22 and Oct. 30 and found some tenants living without hot water or heat, Los Angeles Deputy City Atty. Lawrence Punter said.

In addition, there were unsecured doors, broken windows, missing window screens and damaged walls and ceilings. The hotel, which was infested with roaches, also did not have enough fire alarms and extinguishers, officials said. The owners had been ordered to make repairs but did not comply before a deadline set by the inspectors, officials said.

“The object of all of this is to get the property into compliance so that the tenants do have a safe, clean and sanitary place in which to live,” Punter said.

A tenant contacted Thursday at the hotel defended the landlords. Kenneth Hathaway, 53, a retiree who has lived in the hotel for six years, said he has no complaints. The blame for poor conditions should fall on destructive tenants rather than the landlords, he said.

“Everything’s pretty much good for the amount of rent I pay,” said Hathaway, who pays $330 a month for a one bedroom apartment. “People just tear it up. It takes money to put it back together.”

Another tenant who declined to give his name also said the tenants were at fault, not the landlords, who he said had tried to make improvements.

The owners, who were at the hotel’s front desk Thursday, said the charges are unfair. Since tenants move in and out of the rooms so quickly, they said, it is difficult to keep up with repairs.

The two said they work at the hotel daily and are continually making improvements to the building but that they need more time and money to address every problem.

“It is improving every day,” Terry Aquino said. “If you ask all the tenants, most of the people say that we are improving and we are trying our best to improve.”

Roy Aquino said some tenants cause the problems by damaging the rooms and stealing fire hoses and extinguishers.

“We have good rooms to begin with, but people trash our rooms,” he said.

The owners said the lack of hot water was only temporary. Inspectors came just after the hot water heater broke, and, the couple said, it took about three weeks to replace. During that time, they said tenants were provided with a portable electric hot water tank for bathing purposes.

The Aquinos also said each room is equipped with a portable electric heater. Inspectors found tenants living without heat, they said, because some chose to have the units removed in order to have more space.

According to Richard Bobb, supervisor of the Los Angeles Department of Housing Enforcement, each count against the Aquinos is punishable by six months in jail and a fine of $1,000. Also, there is a penalty of 170%, which raises the cost to $2,700 per count.

“We hope that since we’ve filed the case that the owners will now make as many repairs that they can as quickly as possible. And, if they do, we will recommend a light sentence to the judge,” Bobb said. “If they don’t, we will recommend a more severe sentence.”