Landlord faces rare criminal charges

Wild allegations of violence fuel a war in a downtown L.A. building

- Noah Goldberg and Ruben Vives

NELA PETRUSAN, charged under L.A.'s Tenant Anti-Harassment Ordinance, denies any wrongdoing.

The tenants of this 43-unit apartment building in downtown Los Angeles have typical complaints about their landlord, Nela Petrusan.

They claim she has not fixed plumbing issues, that she has turned off their hot water, that she allowed a roach infestation to fester and that she has failed to make repairs in an expedient manner.

They also have other less typical complaints.

One tenant claims Petrusan sprayed her with bear mace and that Petrusan's boyfriend torched her car, though Petrusan and her boyfriend deny that and the case is still under investigation. Another tenant said Petrusan swung a broom at her head. A third claims that Petrusan's pit bull attacked her, forcing her to get surgery.

Welcome to 1430 Wright St.

Wedged within a gritty loop of the 10 and 110 freeway interchange, the century-old apartment building rises beside a cul-de-sac, in the shadow of the Los Angeles Convention Center. While thousands of Angelenos motor past the property every day, they are oblivious to the war raging inside between Petrusan and her tenants.

Amid the backdrop of a severe housing shortage and soaring L.A. rents, the battles at 1430 Wright St. are being fought in hallways and apartments and in the civil and criminal courts, where both sides trade wild allegations of violence and harassment that they claim make the building a nightmare.

"This is the most extreme situation that I've ever seen," said David Albright, a Los Angeles Tenants Union organizer who works with residents at the building.

Out of the more than 23,000 complaints filed against landlords citywide, Petrusan is the only building owner to ever be charged under L.A.'s Tenant AntiHarassment Ordinance, said Karen Richardson, a spokesperson for the city attorney.