Arthur Felton says his valuable property was stolen. "I had televisions, radios, stereos, computer, laptops."
A numbers of tenants claim when they were finally allowed back into the building today, they saw their apartments had been broken into.
David Lopez says someone stole sentimental knick-knacks from his home. He says, "I haven't been able to get any help from anybody."
2 weeks ago, more than 50 families were forced out of the Lindley Apartments after Licenses and Inspections cited the property for unsafe and unsanitary conditions.
The sudden displacement left tenants scrambling for temporary housing and without their belongings. Their units have since been condemned, and the landlord and owner were ordered to pay $80,000 to relocate residents.
Arthur Felton says he thinks the thefts happened sometime between last night and today, when security of the building was transferred from Philadelphia Police to a private security firm.
Sherman Toppin is a real estate attorney and neutral court-appointed interim property manager. He says they're looking into what happened, but that vandalism and burglaries are nothing new in this building.
Toppin tells Action News, "There's some doors that were entered into because there were cats and pets trapped inside the units. So, we had to go in and do that. There're some people who moved out and never closed their door. So, those doors are open."
Sherman says only one tenant has filed a police report about the burglaries.
