Couple Face 33 Slum Violation Charges
The owners of a six-story, 98-unit apartment building in MacArthur Park were charged Wednesday with 33 criminal slum violations.
Rumhold Johannes Olenczuk, 70, and his wife, Viola Marianne Olenczuk, 68, were charged with various violations of health, fire and building safety codes, said Deputy City Atty. Michael R. Wilkinson.
They are scheduled to be arraigned Nov. 28 in Los Angeles Superior Court.
Inspectors from the city’s Slum Housing Task Force visited the couple’s Virginia Hotel at 744 S. Beacon Ave. in June and July. The Fire Department inspected the property in September.
Officials found numerous violations, including holes in walls, torn and missing screens, exposed hazardous electrical wires, missing heaters, loose toilets and cockroach infestations, Wilkinson said.
The couple could not be reached for comment.
The Olenczuks have owned the building since 1979, and Rumhold Olenczuk was convicted of similar violations at the building in 1992 and 1993, Wilkinson said.
Eric K. Davis, Olenczuk’s attorney in the previous case, said his former client worked hard to correct code violations and didn’t think the city’s depiction of Olenczuk as a slumlord at the time was accurate.
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