DOWNTOWN : Slum Charges Are Filed Against 2 Hotel Owners

Criminal slum charges were filed Thursday against the owners of two Skid Row-area residential hotels, where inspectors found tenants living in cockroach-infested units without heat or smoke detectors.

Scheduled to appear for arraignment April 20 on multiple counts of fire, health and building code violations are Chae K. Ro and Chin D. Ro of Glendale and Dennis Shiraga of Hacienda Heights.

Chae, 55, and Chin Ro, 51, face 21 charges stemming from conditions at the 66-room Termino Hotel at 1315-1331 E. 7th St., said Mike Qualls, a spokesman for the city attorney’s office.

Inspectors from the Los Angeles city attorney’s Housing Enforcement Unit, who surveyed the Ros’ three-story building in January and February, found that it lacked heat, was infested with cockroaches and that trash had accumulated around the property.

The inspectors also found broken electrical and plumbing fixtures, Deputy City Atty. Lawrence P.V. Punter said.

The charges against Shiraga were filed after inspectors found similar problems at his building in the 800 block of East 7th Street, the prosecutor said. Inspectors also found a defective fire hose, blocked fire doors and missing handrails, Punter said.