DA's office charges Mon View Apartments owner with creating public nuisance

The Allegheny County District Attorney’s Office on Monday accused the owner of a West Mifflin subsidized apartment complex of creating a public nuisance after the property failed repeated inspections and spawned complaints of sewage in the streets.

A criminal complaint against Mon View Apartments charges Mon View Apts. LLC with a misdemeanor count of making a public nuisance and a summary offense involving sewage violations.

Messages left for the management company and a person listed as the addressee on the criminal complaint on Monday afternoon were not immediately returned.

According to Allegheny County property records, Mon View Apts. LLC purchased the 326-unit Midway Drive property in December 2022 for $17 million.

Since then, the district attorney’s office said, the new owner has failed to rectify “despicable” and “dangerous” conditions and make the necessary improvements to pass inspection.

Of 129 units inspected over the summer, 96 failed, according to the criminal complaint.

Units are missing windows, there is open framing, no hot water, leaking pipes, collapsed ceilings, bugs and open sewage.

West Mifflin Code Enforcement Officer Jeffrey Youkers called the property an “eyesore.”

“I drive through the property daily, and the property continues to become more and more deplorable,” Youkers wrote in the complaint. “The tenants continuously asked for items to be repaired without remedy.”

During a Sept. 24 walking tour of the property with West Mifflin police, members of the DA’s office saw trash, boarded-up windows, potholes and sewage near a public bus stop, the complaint said.

Investigators met with Winn Residential Property Management, whose representatives told investigators that they had assumed oversight of the complex in August.

One employee told the DA’s office that the company had discovered numerous unpaid bills from vendors and did not have the money to fix problems in the units, according to the complaint. The employee said the company had not begun to receive federal subsidy payments, the complaint said.

In January 2023, the complex failed an inspection. From that point on, Youkers had frequent contact with the property and failed numerous units during subsequent inspections.

Earlier this year, Youkers said, Mon View was fined $180,000 for fire hydrant and occupancy violations.

According to West Mifflin police, the department has responded to 502 calls for service in the complex in the last six months.

Those included 31 domestic disputes, 12 shots fired calls and 24 welfare checks.

As a result, at least 62 arrests were made or warrants issued.

Police reported on Sept. 9 that raw sewage was leaking out of one building into a parking lot.

“A number of residents advised that the condition has been present for quite some time,” the complaint said.