The Columbus landlord who spent 30 days in jail for dozens of code violations on rental properties is back in jail.
Documents
from the city prosecutor's office show that Sam Vazirani violated his
probation by continuing to own homes and collect rent.
Vazirani owned the home that caught fire in December 2011, killing three residents.
At the time, the home was in such bad shape that the city said no one was supposed to live there.
According
to the documents, Vazirani told a court official that he still has an
interest in a home at 119 Wisconsin Avenue, along with several others,
which violates the terms of his probation.
The documents back up
Maria Hall's claim that Vazirani owns the home she rents on Guilford
Avenue. She said the home had nine outstanding building code violations.
"I had to go two months without heat and eight days without water now," she said.
As
part of Vazirani's probation, Franklin County Judge Harland Hale
ordered him to sell 12 properties he still owned, and Vazirani was
banned from owning new properties.
"There were properties removed
in that name that Mr. Vazirani was the real owner in question and the
people that are listed as the owners in this property are just sort of
shells that were being used by Mr. Vazirani," said Bill Hedrick of the
Columbus City Attorney's Office.
Neighbors in Franklinton and the Hilltop pointed out several more homes that they claim Vazirani rented out while on probation.
"When
I first rented this property from him, he still had the ankle monitor
on him from him being in trouble, and I thought that just means he's
going to watch his P's and Q's. He's going to want to do great, be a good
landlord now," Hall said.
Vazirani was charged with 20
misdemeanors stemming from code violations at the property where the
fatal fire occurred. He pleaded no contest to those charges and was
sentenced to 30 days in jail and five years of probation.
