Elk Grove Neighbors Celebrate Landlords' Arrests On 18 Counts Of Fraud
ELK GROVE (CBS13) — Neighbors who've been dealing with a problem house for years are celebrating the arrests of the property owners who they say ignored their pleas for help.
"Drugs, prostitution, cars coming at all hours of the night. It's exactly the kind of house you don't want in your neighborhood," said Nate Champion, the neighborhood watch captain.
Champion said he and his neighbors tried to reason with the property owners, Raghvendra "Raj" Singh and his wife, Kiran Rawat-- and eventually convinced the city of Elk Grove to sue the couple for creating a nuisance in their rental house at 6136 Demonte Way.
A district attorney's investigator says that two days before the civil trial began in January, Rawat deeded the house to a fictitious person in an attempt to avoid the consequences. When questioned, Singh said a paralegal whose name he couldn't recall recorded the deed, but surveillance video at the County Recorder's office shows it was actually Singh who recorded the fraudulent document.
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Singh and Rawat were arrested June 21 on 18 counts of forgery and conspiracy and are being held in the Sacramento County Jail until they can post $250,000 bail each and prove the money comes from a legitimate source. Some of the charges stem from a $90 million dollar lawsuit they filed against Champion after he took his complaints to the city.
In addition to facing the criminal charges, Singh and Rawat lost the civil case filed by the city and will likely lose control of the home next month.
As the years-long battle to save the neighborhood from outlaw landlords comes to a close, Champion says a celebration is in order.
"We're going to have a block party," he said.