Landlord Admits Violating Housing Codes

The owner of a run-down Fullerton apartment complex, who had previously been sentenced to live in another one of his properties that authorities said is unsafe, pleaded guilty Monday to misdemeanor violations of building and safety codes.

Sam Menlo, a Los Angeles-area resident reported to own about 65 Southland properties worth approximately $62 million, agreed to fix up the Fullerton property and pay $6,850 in penalties in exchange for the city dropping the remainder of its case against him. The case had been set for jury selection Monday, court officials said.

On Oct. 2, Menlo was sentenced to live for 60 days in his 350-unit Ridgewood Gardens complex at 1700 N. Temple St. in Anaheim. Orange County Superior Court Judge Michael Hayes, who toured the property in September, said the 15 buildings were grossly neglected. Menlo begins that sentence Sunday, and is required to wear an electronic monitoring device to ensure he remains on the property.

He was also ordered to upgrade one building a month using licensed contractors. If Menlo violates the court’s conditions, he could serve up to 18 months in jail.

In the Fullerton case, Menlo had pleaded not guilty earlier this year to 99 alleged violations filed against him in Superior Court by the city of Fullerton. He changed his plea to guilty on 10 of those counts.

Fullerton had been working with Menlo since January to repair the Basque Manor Apartments on South Basque Avenue. Violations ranged from inoperative smoke alarms to faulty plumbing and structural damage caused by water leaks, city prosecutor Gregory P. Palmer said. Palmer said the conditions at the Fullerton complex were not the worst he’d seen, but he was frustrated by how difficult it was to get Menlo to agree to clean up the property. As of Monday, Palmer said, Menlo had fixed up “about 50%” of the problems there.

Menlo declined to comment.