Prosecutor: Landlord made threat against inspectors
Rashaed faces city suit that would ban him from owning, managing rental properties in county
In the wake of the killing of a popular city building inspector, Elijah Mohammad Rashaed — one of the city’s most notorious central city landlords — warned “maybe more things would happen to inspectors,” a city official testified Wednesday.
As a result of that cryptic comment, Department of Neighborhood Services inspectors were ordered not to deal directly with Rashaed, who is the target of a city action aimed at stripping him of control of his real estate empire, Kristen Reed testified in a hearing Wednesday. Instead, she said, she was told to communicate with Rashaed’s attorney, David Halbrooks.
Reed’s testimony came during a hearing over the city’s suit that asks Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Glenn Yamahiro to place 166 Milwaukee properties linked to Rashaed into a receivership and to ultimately ban him from owning or managing rental properties in Milwaukee County.
“Mr. Rashaed’s management style and way of doing business is in and of itself a public nuisance.”
KAIL DECKER ASSISTANT CITY ATTORNEY PROSECUTING THE RECEIVERSHIP CASE
After the city initially disclosed plans to sue Rashaed in March — an action put on hold until August because of legal maneuvering by Rashaed — Greg “Ziggy” Zyszkiewicz, a longtime city home inspector, was shot and killed during an attempted carjacking.
Though Zyszkiewicz’s death was unrelated to Rashaed, the topic came up during a phone call between Rashaed and Reed’s thenmanager, Erica Lewandowski, Reed said, noting she was also on the call.
Rashaed said he “was not surprised that it happened and maybe more things would happen to inspectors,” Reed said, describing the comment as “very offensive.”
Halbrooks said Rashaed never made the comment and questioned whether Reed was actually on the call.
In an interview after Reed’s testimony, Kail Decker, the assistant city attorney prosecuting the receivership case, called the comments a “veiled threat” that he took “seriously enough that (he) didn’t want any interaction between” Rashaed and the inspectors.
Rashaed has had a long and contentious relationship with the inspectors that has included properties linked to him being cited in more than 3,500 orders for more than 12,000 violations of city building codes.
Rashaed, 48, who now lives in West Palm Beach, Fla., was charged in a criminal complaint in 2007 with misdemeanor battery for chasing a city building inspector out of a property and punching him in the face. Rashaed pleaded no contest to disorderly conduct.
Rashaed’s landlord business has included a confusing maze of more than 50 limited liability companies. The city suit names 18 entities linked to Rashaed. The lawsuit is separate from an investigation by the Milwaukee County district attorney’s office.
The DA’s office has been conducting a wide-ranging probe of Rashaed for at least a year, sources said.
Rashaed has been one of the landlords profiled in the Journal Sentinel’s ongoing investigation of inner city landlords and real estate dealers.
He is the second Milwaukee landlord to face a receivership action brought by the city in the past year. The city earlier persuaded a court to have properties owned by Mohammad Choudry placed in receivership.
Halbrooks argued the city action never should have been filed because Rashaed’s companies have repaired virtually all of the city violations. In a brief, Halbrooks wrote that the city’s suit is “the most fraudulent and deceitful lawsuit” that he has ever seen.
The action “evinces an evil intent on behalf of the government that is unfathomable,” Halbrooks, a former city attorney who used to prosecute slumlords, wrote.
Decker, the assistant city attorney, argued Wednesday that even if Rashaed’s operation did repair many of the violations cited by inspectors, his track record necessitates the city seize his properties and place them in the hands of a receiver who would manage and repair the rental units.
“Mr. Rashaed’s management style and way of doing business is in and of itself a public nuisance,” Decker said.
Reed testified that while many items are repaired, she continues to routinely find new serious violations.
She testified that during the summer, a Rashaed entity evicted a woman even though the company no longer owned the property. Rashaed’s company lost the property because it had failed to pay its property taxes, she testified.
When the tenant went to court to complain, she was told that Rashaed’s company could not evict her and she should return to the home. But, when she returned, Reed said, she found her kitchen sink, furnace and water heater had been removed from the house.
A water heater believed to come from the property was later found at a different Rashaed address.
Halbrooks, in an interview, said Rashaed’s management company did not realize that the property had been taken by the city in a tax foreclosure when it evicted the tenant.
After Reed’s testimony, attorneys from both sides met with the judge and agreed to try to work out a settlement by Thursday afternoon.