Charges Filed Over Motel’s Condition
Eight months after he bought a rundown motel and promised to repair it, a Burbank man was charged Thursday with 17 misdemeanors for allegedly failing to fix up the Magnolia Boulevard property.
Manji Vaghashia, 46, violated an array of health and building and safety codes by leaving the 25-unit Econo Inn & Suites in an unsafe condition, Los Angeles Deputy City Atty. Michael R. Wilkinson said.
The problems include missing heaters, broken doors, a defective smoke detector and a roof “that does not appear to be waterproof,” Wilkinson said.
The motel, at 10750 Magnolia Blvd., has a history of criminal slum violations. Its last owner, Chih-Ming Kao, was convicted of 10 violations last year and fined $9,532.
Kao had asked the court for permission to board up the dilapidated motel but then changed his mind and sold it, Wilkinson said.
“It was only on the promise that the new owner was going to do all those [repairs] that we did not object” to the sale, he said.
Vaghashia is scheduled to be arraigned May 4 in Los Angeles Superior Court.
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