More Trouble At Judge Owned Home
PUEBLO – A new problem at a home deemed unsafe to occupy this past summer has the Pueblo Health Department involved. A complaint has been filed by neighbors regarding raw sewage behind a home at 511 W. 12th Street. Neighbors say a large build up of wastewater flooded the back of the home earlier this week seeping into their yards.
“I’m just worried about the safety of the neighborhood,” said Byron Wilson, who lives next door.
The home is actually four different apartments rented out by the owner James Lusero, a municipal court judge in Walsenburg. It’s the same home where a tenant being evicted in August told NEWSCHANNEL 13 that sewage problems caused her plumbing to back up into the tub and sink and she found hypodermic needles in her toilet. At the time, Lusero’s property manager said that she was angry and clogged the plumbing herself as revenge.
According to the health department, this recent problem requires Lusero to sanitize the area and remove the top layer of soil or face a citation and fine. The judge says he’s done that and would have cleaned it up even sooner had he been informed of the problem. He says the sewage spill was a man-made mess involving a “clear out” pipe behind the home.
“Somebody had to intentionally open that and I don’t know anything about their intentionally opening that, we don’t do that,” said Lusero.
Lusero says the first he heard of the problem around 2:30 pm Wednesday when he was contacted by health department investigators. He says he immediately got on the phone and phoned several companies before finding an expert to clean up the area.
“By 7:30 it was clear,” said Lusero.
Neighbors disagree and say the pool of sewer water was still there Thursday morning. Wilson says he watched Lusero’s property manage use a hose to spray the feces-infested water into his yard off the sidewalk and into the driveway dirt then clean the area with water and bleach. Wilson says even if the health department gives the clean up a passing mark, he’s tired of seeing problems like this next door.
“The resolution I want is to take care of the problem, this is a band-aid,” said Wilson. “This building has been going downhill for six years.”
NEWSCHANNEL 13 checked into Lusero’s property record in Pueblo County. He’s listed as owning 15 properties. In the last year this is one of three major complaints registered with the health department or building and zoning.
In December of 2008, a tenant at 2405 James Boulevard reported Lusero for not doing anything about heater problems and a roof leak. The home was deemed unsafe to occupy because of the reasons above as well as damp conditions, rodent infestation, and improper maintenance. Inspectors noted hazardous electrical utilities as well.
As we noted this past summer, the building and planning department posted notices for two of the four apartments at W. 12th St. The unsafe to occupy notices were because of inadequate sanitation, lack of water, hazardous wiring and sewer problems. One of those two apartments remains closed off while the ground level apartment appears to be on the market again.
