3 Apartment Officials Sued for Alleged Bias

The owners and manager of two apartment complexes in Riverside were sued Tuesday by the U.S. Department of Justice for allegedly discriminating against black apartment seekers and tenants and sexually harassing female tenants.

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Santa Ana, alleges that apartment manager Vincent Stancyk threw away the rental applications of blacks seeking housing at the Rio Palmas apartment complex. It also says that Stancyk used racial slurs toward black tenants and threatened them with evictions. Government lawyers also allege that Stancyk repeatedly subjected female tenants to unwelcome sexual comments and offered them privileges in exchange for sexual acts.

The lawsuit also named as defendants William David Wingo and Karen Wingo Cipriano, who conduct business as Wingo Properties. They owned the Rio Palmas apartments until May 1999, authorities said, and own the Las Casitas property in Riverside, where Stancyk is employed as a property manager. The lawsuit says that Wingo and Cipriano knew or should have known about the harassment and discrimination and failed to stop or prevent it.

Telephone messages left with Wingo Properties and with the Las Casitas apartment after business hours Tuesday were not immediately returned.

“The conduct at issue here is deeply offensive, striking at the heart of our fundamental right to be free from discrimination on the basis of race or gender,” said Alejandro N. Mayorkas, the U.S. attorney for the Central District of California. “That right is sacred, and my office and the Justice Department are both committed to protecting that right as vigorously as the law permits.”

The lawsuit seeks compensatory and punitive damages for victims of discrimination and harassment, as well as civil penalties and injunctive relief barring further discrimination.

A similar lawsuit filed in October by three alleged victims of discrimination at the Rio Palmas is pending in federal court.