Problems found at apartment complex

Lynn Doan and Heather Rawlyk

Friday, July 23, 2004 | 11:13 a.m.

Clark County inspectors found trash in a brackish swimming pool, smoke detectors that didn't work, hypodermic needles next to buildings and garbage all over an apartment complex Thursday where Metro Police on Tuesday arrested a naked man on charges of breaking into a pregnant woman's apartment.

A dozen inspectors from various public and private agencies, from the county building department and fire department to social services and Nevada Power, found safety hazards at Willson Square Apartments off Swenson Street and Sierra Vista Drive.

County officials expected to issue an order to clean up the property early next week.

The arrest on Tuesday and resulting media coverage pushed the county to quickly inspect the 24-unit complex after receiving a week's worth of complaints and reports about it, James Spinello, Clark County's assistant director of administrative services, said.

"There were some referrals from Metro and we've received phone complaints from some of the residents, but no one realized how serious the conditions were" Spinello said. "There's trash and debris everywhere, there are boards on the windows; it's just a nuisance in terms of physical appearance."

Fire Department spokesman Bob Leinbach said inspectors discovered that 12 of the 24 smoke detectors in the complex were either missing or not working. The county moved immediately to repair the detectors and planned to bill the property owner for the cost, Leinbach said.

"We're trying to get those (missing detectors) installed before the day is over," said Leinbach, who said the county is paying for costs because the alarms pose an immediate danger to residents.

Inspectors also found vacant apartments with front doors kicked out and various personal items, including a bowl of half-eaten Fruit Loops, strewn over stained rugs. In one vacant apartment, a washing machine was missing, a stove was half-torn from the kitchen wall, and all that was left of the refrigerator was a vegetable drawer with three dead cockroaches lying inside.

Dave Tonelli, spokesman for the Clark County Health District, said inspectors also found trash in the brown water that filled the complex's pool.

Tonelli said the district will be issuing property owner Norma Jakubowski a notice of the violations and would fine her if she doesn't clean and dispose of the waste properly.

Some violations that pose an immediate hazard, such as combustible debris and piles of dry vegetation, will be fixed by the county soon and billed to Jakubowski, Spinello said.

If Jakubowski refuses to pay for the county's repairs or doesn't fix the violations in a reasonable amount of time, the county could take control of the complex and eventually put the land up for auction, Spinello said.

Tenants will be allowed to continue living in the complex while the work is being done, he said.

Susan Anderson moved to Willson Square in February 2002. On a rainy night two weeks after she moved in, Anderson said, the ceiling in two rooms caved in.

"My son was sleeping in the middle of the night and the entire ceiling caved in on him," said Anderson, who along with four other tenants have filed a lawsuit against Jakubowski.

In the days that followed, Anderson said, she found herself trudging through two inches of water in her apartment. She complained to Jakubowski, who did nothing.

Anderson said she replaced three ceilings, repaired water leaks, replaced damaged rugs with tiles, painted, wallpapered and bought blinds -- all out of her own pocket. She said she informed Jakubowski of the needed repairs, and her landlady replied that she would not pay for "unnecessary repairs."

Even now, Anderson said, her stove, oven and dishwasher don't work and her average electricity bill is $220, and she doesn't know why.

"Anderson Air came into my house and said it was 110 degrees in there," she said.

Jakubowski said she never received complaints from any of the tenants and "couldn't even fathom how the stories got started." Jakubowski, who lives in Henderson but was traveling, said she just became aware of the situation on Thursday when a friend faxed her a media report.

"I'm not afraid of getting my hands dirty cleaning a toilet or putting in a sheet rock for my tenants," she said. "But I never received any complaints."

Jakubowski said she did not even know that the woman in the apartment that the naked intruder entered Tuesday, Ann Mackey, 24, was a resident at Willson Square. She said she doesn't have a tenant application for Mackey.

Mackey said she moved into her apartment in May and signed a lease with one of Jakubowski's former managers. But she said the manager then ran off with her and other tenants' rent money. Another manager was hired a month later, but he, too, ran off with the rent money, she said.

"I don't know who to pay rent to now for July and months after that," Mackey said.

Fed up with corrupt managers, residents Mina Morris and Anthony Mikulski said they are now on "renter's strike." Mikulski said a paralegal advised him to refuse to pay rent until Jakubowski pays for repairs in his apartment and establishes a trustworthy manager.

Jakubowski is aware that a squatter once posed as the apartment manager and collected tenants' rent money, she said. But she said all of her former managers accounted for "every penny that went into that checkbook."

Tim Davis, Jakubowski's new rent manager who began Monday, said that if he doesn't receive rent money from tenants at Willson Square, he will be forced to file eviction papers. So far, Davis said, he has not received rent money from any of the residents.

Tenants said their monthly rents ranged from $650 to $850.