Duo Charged With Not Making Motel Repairs
A mother and son were charged Friday with criminal failure to repair slum conditions at the Magnolia Motel, according to the Los Angeles city attorney’s office.
Payo-Yu Kao, 64, of Burbank, and her son Chih-Ming Kao, 56, of Arcadia--accused of 19 violations of health and building and safety codes--are scheduled to be arraigned Nov. 19, said Mike Qualls, a spokesman for the Los Angeles city attorney.
Chih-Ming Kao said Friday that certain violations pointed out to him during past inspections have been fixed, and the city attorney’s office has not notified him of the current charges.
The city attorney’s office said the charges against the duo stem from inspections at the motel in the 10700 block of Magnolia Avenue between March 11 and Sept. 8 by its Housing Enforcement Unit.
The violations include exposed electrical wires, a broken smoke detector, leaky plumbing, loose toilets, broken heaters, peeling paint and plaster, torn flooring, ruptured water-heater vent lines, broken doors and missing window screens, authorities said.
The Housing Enforcement Unit is made up of deputy city attorneys as well as members of the city Fire Department, Building and Safety Department and the county Fire Department.
The unit coordinates inspections of large buildings such as apartment complexes, and prosecutes serious cases in which owners do not repair violations after repeated warnings, Qualls said.
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