Utica's news sources jumped on the story and rode it with sensationalism in an effort to sell papers and increase viewer participation, but not one news source took the initiative to dig further....that would take too much energy...and they like to feed the public their twisted perception of what transpires.....they have to ..in order to keep their out-sourced paper alive ....
At approximately 9:30 this morning I made a phone call to Dwight Johnson the landlord of record to the property at 1663 Howard Ave. It was the second call I had made in two days...but finally got a response. The first question I asked was if I was speaking to Dwight Johnson and he acknowledged that he was the party in question. I then asked him if he was the owner of the property at 1663 Howard Ave and he responded that he was not. I pushed the issue further and asked him if he had ads on websites advertising this and other properties as rental properties that listed him as an owner with this phone number and he finally acknowledged that he was the owner. He asked how I found him and I reiterated that he was named on websites as the landlord looking to rent property....and so we got into a discussion...he was very forthcoming in answering some questions.
I asked him about the tenants; Abraham Kuol and Panda Madet reading from an article of what had transpired days ago. He said he was never notified of the incident nor was he aware that there was no heat in the apartment but was aware of the cockroach problem. He stated that Abraham, the tenant, moved into the apartment around March or April of last year, about the same time as the 1st floor tenant Ms. Potter. He said that it was shortly after that, around May or June, that Ms. Potter notified him that there was a presence of cockroaches and she thought they were coming from the upstairs apartment. She also called a few times regarding some arguing and the children being up late running around. Johnson said that he bought roach traps and placed them in both apartments in hopes of eliminating the problem, but that didn't work so in September an exterminator was called, Ms. Potter paid the exterminator and it was deducted from her rent.
Johnson stated that Abraham didn't want the exterminator to enter the attic, which was accessible from their apartment, so a thorough extermination was not conducted. Johnson stated that he never followed up with another extermination, and Ms. Potter indicated to him three weeks ago that the presence of roaches subsided.
Johnson told me that Abraham was not receiving any public assistance, was employed for a long period of time, according to someone that recommended him for the apartment, not recalling his employer, but did however ask him a few months back to sign a landlord statement so he could receive help with heating expenses through the HEAP program. Johnson told me he signed the landlord statement for him.
It was on the same day that Abraham encountered the problem, which subsequently led to his arrest, that he gave Johnson $200.00 toward January's rent of $450.00. Johnson said that Abraham was late on his rental payments but always paid.
Johnson owns properties throughout Utica and stated that he has no codes violations and is always compliant with inspections, even though the apartment has not been inspected in about a year and a half by Utica's Codes Department or Utica's Fire Department. He stated that he lives in Jamaica Queens is always available to his tenants and has two apartment rental managers here in Utica to take care of any problems that may occur.
Johnson stated that Abraham never called him about about any problems at the apartment except for the one time there was no hot water. Water was leaking into the downstairs apartment recently and the tenant downstairs called Johnson and the problem was resolved.
After I spoke to Johnson it became obvious that Abraham had not mastered the art of the English language. Johnson stated that Abraham was in America for what he believed to be a while, but still spoke broken English and did not always grasp the concept of a conversation, it was at that point in time I truly believed that this was a family who had fallen on hard times and a plea to my facebook friends for donations was met with an outpouring of generosity. Food, blankets, money, clothes, toys were immediately made available for pick up and so my daughter and I delivered the donations with the assistance of two uniform officers from the Utica Police Department.
As we approached the front door there was a sign posted, "Please close the door". We knocked and there was no response so we opened the door and knocked on the inside door to the first floor apartment. The hallway was a bit cluttered with what appeared to be a box of broken plexiglass and the molding on the side of the stairwell was missing, some of which was placed in the box of plexiglass. There was a stroller on the landing going up to the second floor apartment. A rather decent stroller, one showing a bit of wear and tear but do-able. The stairs also showed signs of wear and tear, slippery for they were absent carpeting or any type of slip-resistant matting.
As we approached the second floor apartment door, it was open so we stepped inside, with the officer on the step behind us, and placed the bags of clothing, food and toys inside the door. Upon looking into the apartment one can see the placement of furniture; a tv, couches, and an area rug....and a door to the left had a mattress, a thin mattress placed on the floor with blankets and pillows carefully laid on top. The stove had a disconnected gas line. The house was a modest house, some paperwork on the counter-top, but nothing that would send a red flag up indicating that these people didn't provide the best they could for their children. It was neat...and I did not see any cockroaches crawling around...but I was only at the doorway.
Although we called out for the tenants numerous times..there was no response...but the downstairs tenants said they were home....they must have been hiding...fearing the worst.
We left..I was saddened to think that this family has been portrayed by our media sources as the worst parents in the world. I don't believe for one minute that's the case. They represent the struggles of families in America today. Black, white, yellow, ...it doesn't matter...we are all people ...we all are struggling, we need to help each other.....my prayers to this family...and additional purchases will be made throughout the week to help them...and others.
1 comments:
This brought tears to my eyes... sad!
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