ANDERSON, Ind. — Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita is suing the owners of two Anderson apartment complexes, alleging they allowed the facilities to fall into "extreme disrepair."
The lawsuit alleges PR Bingham LLC, PR Madison LLC, Property Resource Associates LLC and Gary Plichta "abandoned" the tenants at Bingham Square Apartments and Madison Square Apartments by allowing the apartments to become "entirely unlivable."
(NOTE: The video above is from a September 2023 report on conditions at Bingham Square Apartments.)
The lawsuit was filed by the AG's Consumer Protection Division through its Homeowner Protection Unit. It alleges the defendants walked away from Bingham Square Apartments, allowing its physical condition to "totally deteriorate." It claims utilities were shut off as early as February 2021.
It also claims that the defendants canceled their Section 8 contract and began evicting HUD-subsidized tenants, and has since been "plagued by fires, flooding, utility outages, break-ins and criminal trespassers."
The lawsuit claims the defendants also abandoned tenants at Madison Square Apartments, "leaving behind an unsecured leasing office full of sensitive tenant information, including dozens of uncashed checks from years prior."
The defendants, the lawsuit alleges, owed more than $900,000 in unpaid utilities to the City of Anderson by May 2024.
13News has covered the issues at the complexes multiple times after one of the city leaders called them out on social media.
In September 2023, residents told 13News they experienced trash in the halls and mold on the walls, in addition to trash dumped behind buildings.
"The lawsuit demands a jury trial, costs of prosecution, and other damages against the defendants for multiple violations of the Deceptive Consumer Sales Act, Home Loan Practices Act, and the Uniform Business Organizations Act," the attorney general's office said in a statement.