Landlord Faces Trial on Charges of Code Violations

ANAHEIM —  An Anaheim landlord is scheduled to face trial Thursday on charges of violating building codes at the Ridgewood Gardens apartment complex, where a fire in March ripped through 31 units and caused more than $1 million in damage.

Two children playing with matches confessed in April to starting the four-alarm fire at the 368-unit complex on North Temple Street.

But a city investigation spurred by the fire turned up what city officials term widespread unsafe conditions, including defective flooring, hazardous electrical wiring and plumbing, an exposed construction site and dead trees, trash and other debris throughout the grounds.

“We’ve been suspicious about the place for a long time, but the fire made us take another look,” said city code enforcement director John Poole. The city filed the criminal complaints against landlord Sam Menlo of Los Angeles in May.

He would face a maximum of $21,000 in fines and six months in jail if found guilty of all 21 counts. In 1993, Menlo pleaded guilty to violating the city’s uniform building code at the same complex. He was fined $3,000.

Last year, the city of Placentia paid Menlo to install a wrought iron fence around the complex, which abuts that city.

“It was an attempt to contain the problem, the unsightliness and all,” Poole said.

The March 31 fire left 17 families homeless and led to an outpouring of help for victims of the blaze and other residents of the complex from neighbors and nonprofit groups.