Police Officer Landlord Called 'Slumlord'

BOSTON -- For the past five months, Team 5 Investigates has been looking into complaints from tenants and inspectors in two states about filthy, rundown apartments. The landlord is a Boston police officer.

Team 5 Investigates' Rhondella Richardson reported that tenant Merle Jones said her apartment's walls are stained from soot from the heating system.

"It was white when I moved in September of last year," Jones said.

Soot even covers the inside of the refrigerator.

"I always paid my rent. Always on time -- always," Jones said.

This is the second winter for Creston Park apartments' heat problems. The landlord is Frank Garcia, a 13-year-veteran of the Boston Police Department. Garcia is a patrolman who works the midnight shift in the same Dorchester neighborhood.

A third-floor resident said they've been living with a hole in the roof since July.

"It rains and I have to put buckets down, pots down," Deborah Jones-Robinson said.

Bugs and mice are regular house guests, tenants said. Doorbells never worked and faulty door locks locked Jones in the apartment.

Tenants said none of the violations have been addressed.

The Boston Housing Authority has documents about the property violations, but it's the BHA that's paying most of the rent to Garcia because one of the tenants is low-income, Section 8 housing.

The landlord was ordered to paint the walls, fix the heat and put the family up in a hotel while making repairs. But he didn't, so the BHA finally stopped payments and Garcia stopped paying his mortgage and refused to return thousands in security deposits.

Now, four adults and six children are losing the roof over their heads. But the home they're leaving behind is luxury compared to Garcia's rentals in Woonsocket, R.I., tenants said. The building inspector there showed Team 5 Investigates 52 pages of violations.

"Slumlord -- that's all I can say. Just slumlords that don't take care of anything," said neighbors in Woonsocket.

The inspector condemned one of Garcia's properties citing overflowing trash on the sidewalks and neighbors calling the police. No one has been able to reach the police officer responsible for the mess.

"One of the girls was throwing out a mattress saying it was full of cockroaches and bugs," said another neighbor.

Inspection reports and deeds list Garcia as the sole owner of all properties, but tenants said it's his wife who they deal with. Garcia's wife refused to talk to Team 5.

Garcia earned $123,000 last year -- his base salary of $53,000 plus overtime. Garcia has a $700,000 home in Holbrook. The town has fined him for delinquent water and sewer bills. In Dorchester, he owes Keyspan gas $8,000.

"I think the books should be thrown at this guy," said Boston Mayor Thomas Menino.

"It made me feel better knowing the house was owned by a Boston policeman. That was a bad mistake," Jones-Robinson said.

"As a police officer, you have the public trust, and I think this somehow violates that public trust," Menino said.

Rhode Island officials could not find Garcia. The BHA said it didn't realize it was writing up a police officer until Team 5 Investigates told them. After the investigation was shared with Boston police, they launched an internal investigation.