City Attorney Wants Eagle Rock Condo Declared Public Nuisance
City Attorney Wants Eagle Rock Condo Declared Public Nuisance
by Contributing Editor
An Eagle Rock condominium where a runaway teen who tried to buy heroin was allegedly held against her will for 10 days and sexually assaulted should be declared a public nuisance because of ongoing drug sales, the City Attorney’s Office argues in a newly filed lawsuit.
The Los Angeles Superior Court complaint filed Monday targets Josefina Songco and her 42-year-old son, Eric Rees, who, according to the suit, has lived at the Wiota Street property since 2003.
Songco bought the three-story, four-bedroom condo in a gated community in 2001 and held it as her separate property until she transferred it to a trust last September, the suit says.
Last July, Glendale police, armed with a search warrant, arrested Rees and recovered heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine, a gun, ammunition and a digital scale from the property, the complaint states.
In May, the LAPD received a call from a man who said he believed a friend was being held against her will at the condo after she went there to complete a “business transaction,” according to the suit. Police went to the property and encountered the 17-year-old girl leaving the garage.
“She stated that Rees refused to sell heroin to her and instead held her against her will in the garage for 10 days,” the lawsuit alleges.
The teen alleged that she had been “tied up, beaten and repeatedly raped” by Rees and that he “threatened to harm her mother and to cut one of her arteries if she tried calling out for help,” according to the suit.
Rees eventually released the teen, but told her she had to return once a week to have sex with him or he would “take care of her mother,” the suit alleges.
The teen told officers she had returned that day to have sex with Rees out of fear he would harm her mother, according to the suit, which says detectives were later unable to locate the girl and therefore no criminal charges were filed against Rees.
Based on the May incident, LAPD officers obtained a search warrant and allegedly recovered more drugs and ammunition, the suit states.
Along with an order enjoining further alleged drug transactions at the condominium, the City Attorney’s Office is asking that Rees be permanently removed from the property “in order to make it a safe environment for the people who live in the surrounding area.”
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All credit goes to Contributing Editor
Originally published on https://mynewsla.com
