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VicTusDeuS
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I read this article and it reminded me of the thread someone started a few weeks ago asking why dont people just clean up their house. There was more than 1 family in this house. One young lady had 5 kids (where's the father??? He should be around someplace if he was there long enough to have 5 kids!!) Another had 4 kids. There was a 22 yr. old with 2 kids, etc., etc..You'd figure with so many people living there they could atleast clean it up and make it safe. Not only was the outside a mess, but there was shit on the inside, rodents, flies garbage all over the floor...and these people lived in it without a worry. I could understand having a dilapidated house if your poor...But they had phone lines,satellite dish, a big screen TV and a new luxury car in the driveway...Not only do these people live in shit...they are shit.
City thought it was abandoned; 13 children staying with relatives
Wednesday, September 04, 2002
http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/essex/index.ssf?/base/news-1/1031130620134245.xml
BY BARRY CARTER
Star-Ledger Staff
Newark city officials acknowledged yesterday that for nearly three months they have been trying to contact the owners of a home they thought was abandoned, where 13 children were found living in squalid conditions Saturday.
Colleen Walton, the city's acting director of Neighborhood Services, said inspectors first became aware of the Ridgewood Avenue home in April as part of a citywide check of vacant land and abandoned homes that were unsecured near schools.
The three-story home lacked basement windows, had a dilapidated porch and broken first-floor windows. But city inspectors were unable to enter the building and assumed it was vacant because of its condition.
Walton said code enforcement officers made notations of litter and debris around the property in April. When the owners -- GMAC Mortgage Corp. based in Horsham, Pa., -- failed to clean the property, the city send a notice in July.
She said the city also sent a notice to Eschen & Frenkel, a West Orange law firm listed in city records as collecting rent from GMAC on the property. Walton added that GMAC also is delinquent on its water and sewer bills, owing the city more than $2,500.
Walton said neither GMAC nor the law firm have responded to the city. A court date is pending on the violations. A GMAC representative could not be reached for comment and a representative of the law firm declined to comment about the property yesterday.
Meanwhile, a spokesman for the state Division of Youth and Family Services said the children -- ages 1 to 17 -- will remain with relatives.
"If the relatives are unable to continue to care for the children, we would look to place them in foster homes," said DYFS spokesman Joseph Delmar.
The parents were charged with child endangerment, but hospital officials found no signs of abuse, police said.
The adults arrested were Joseph Franklin, 53, and Delsalin Franklin, 43, parents of four children; Hikeyma Cooper, 27, mother of five children; Patricia Snead, 43, of Somerset, mother of two children; and Kimberly Freeman, 22, of Paterson, mother of two children. A squatter, Carmen Perez, 32, was arrested on an outstanding warrant for shoplifting.
City sanitation crews spent yesterday cleaning up empty lots adjacent to the property, which also were filled with debris.
Rubbish and filth remained inside the three-story home, where mounds of clothes were strewn all over the floor. Flies darted throughout the first-floor unit, and dozens of dead ones were stuck on contact paper dangling from a bathroom ceiling. Feces were smeared on the toilet seat.
The walls were cracked and had holes. There were dirty beds and mattresses, kitchen cabinets with rotting wood. Fire officials have said the basement contained raw sewage and noted that animal waste was present on the first and third floors. The fire department also cited the owner for improper wiring, and city officials have said the property needed to be exterminated for roaches and rodents.
Walton said she discovered that somebody lived at the squalid home Saturday during another round of checks for abandoned properties and vacant lots.
She said a neighbor told her the home was occupied after she noticed a late-model luxury car in the driveway on Saturday. Police officials have said the second-floor apartment had a satellite dish, a big-screen television and a telephone connection.
When inspectors shouted to see if anyone was home, Walton said, squatters came out of the basement and told city officials that others lived upstairs. She said the inspector yelled again and more people came out of the building.
Walton said the citywide inspections are done as a safety precaution to make sure abandoned structures are boarded up and tall weeds are cut down in vacant lots near schools.
"Our children could be snatched, raped or murdered because no one would notice squatters living in side," Walton said.
Barry Carter covers Newark. He can be reached at [email protected] or (973) 392-1827.
City thought it was abandoned; 13 children staying with relatives
Wednesday, September 04, 2002
http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/essex/index.ssf?/base/news-1/1031130620134245.xml
BY BARRY CARTER
Star-Ledger Staff
Newark city officials acknowledged yesterday that for nearly three months they have been trying to contact the owners of a home they thought was abandoned, where 13 children were found living in squalid conditions Saturday.
Colleen Walton, the city's acting director of Neighborhood Services, said inspectors first became aware of the Ridgewood Avenue home in April as part of a citywide check of vacant land and abandoned homes that were unsecured near schools.
The three-story home lacked basement windows, had a dilapidated porch and broken first-floor windows. But city inspectors were unable to enter the building and assumed it was vacant because of its condition.
Walton said code enforcement officers made notations of litter and debris around the property in April. When the owners -- GMAC Mortgage Corp. based in Horsham, Pa., -- failed to clean the property, the city send a notice in July.
She said the city also sent a notice to Eschen & Frenkel, a West Orange law firm listed in city records as collecting rent from GMAC on the property. Walton added that GMAC also is delinquent on its water and sewer bills, owing the city more than $2,500.
Walton said neither GMAC nor the law firm have responded to the city. A court date is pending on the violations. A GMAC representative could not be reached for comment and a representative of the law firm declined to comment about the property yesterday.
Meanwhile, a spokesman for the state Division of Youth and Family Services said the children -- ages 1 to 17 -- will remain with relatives.
"If the relatives are unable to continue to care for the children, we would look to place them in foster homes," said DYFS spokesman Joseph Delmar.
The parents were charged with child endangerment, but hospital officials found no signs of abuse, police said.
The adults arrested were Joseph Franklin, 53, and Delsalin Franklin, 43, parents of four children; Hikeyma Cooper, 27, mother of five children; Patricia Snead, 43, of Somerset, mother of two children; and Kimberly Freeman, 22, of Paterson, mother of two children. A squatter, Carmen Perez, 32, was arrested on an outstanding warrant for shoplifting.
City sanitation crews spent yesterday cleaning up empty lots adjacent to the property, which also were filled with debris.
Rubbish and filth remained inside the three-story home, where mounds of clothes were strewn all over the floor. Flies darted throughout the first-floor unit, and dozens of dead ones were stuck on contact paper dangling from a bathroom ceiling. Feces were smeared on the toilet seat.
The walls were cracked and had holes. There were dirty beds and mattresses, kitchen cabinets with rotting wood. Fire officials have said the basement contained raw sewage and noted that animal waste was present on the first and third floors. The fire department also cited the owner for improper wiring, and city officials have said the property needed to be exterminated for roaches and rodents.
Walton said she discovered that somebody lived at the squalid home Saturday during another round of checks for abandoned properties and vacant lots.
She said a neighbor told her the home was occupied after she noticed a late-model luxury car in the driveway on Saturday. Police officials have said the second-floor apartment had a satellite dish, a big-screen television and a telephone connection.
When inspectors shouted to see if anyone was home, Walton said, squatters came out of the basement and told city officials that others lived upstairs. She said the inspector yelled again and more people came out of the building.
Walton said the citywide inspections are done as a safety precaution to make sure abandoned structures are boarded up and tall weeds are cut down in vacant lots near schools.
"Our children could be snatched, raped or murdered because no one would notice squatters living in side," Walton said.
Barry Carter covers Newark. He can be reached at [email protected] or (973) 392-1827.
