DOWNTOWN : Accused Slumlords Plead Not Guilty
The owners of a 265-room hotel where city and county inspectors reportedly found cockroaches, broken toilets, chained-up fire escapes and backed-up sewage pleaded not guilty Thursday to a variety of code violation charges.
Western Pacific International Inc. and executives Junn Hsiong Hsiao, 56, of Palos Verdes Estates and Song Lieng Lee, 44, of Hacienda Heights are charged with 30 misdemeanor counts of health, fire and building code violations at the Pacific Grand Hotel, 416 S. Spring St. A pretrial hearing was scheduled for Jan. 12.
The owners allegedly failed to fix the problems despite several warnings from the Slum Housing Task Force. Defense attorneys have said Western Pacific is now correcting the problems.
Defense attorney Jim Morris also indicated that he hopes to have Lee and Hsiao dismissed from the case because they both left the company three years ago. But Deputy City Atty. Michael Wilkinson said Lee and Hsiao still are listed on ownership papers filed with the state.
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