CINCINNATI — A New Jersey-based landlord says its West Side apartment complex is the victim of illegal trash dumpers. But some of its tenants say the problems run deeper at Eatondale Apartments in Sedamsville.

The 68-unit apartment complex at 269 Fairbanks Ave. was the scene of a half-day cleanup Friday, as residents and property managers filled three dumpsters with garbage they say was brought to the complex by strangers. Property Manager Marnica Ward said it’s a recurring problem that requires her to call Junk King for extra dumpsters every three days.

“I can’t catch who’s doing it,” Ward said. “I don’t know who’s doing it.”

But one tenant said the trash pile sat there for more than two weeks before she complained about it on Nextdoor, a social media app that lets neighbors alert each other about local events and problems.

“Enough is enough,” said Grecia Moore. “I’m sick and tired of being in unlivable conditions.”

Beyond the trash, Moore said, she has endured leaks, mold, a lack of heat and rodents in her basement apartment.

“Who wants to live like this? I can’t even stay here now because of the mold and mildew that’s in my house,” Moore said.

The Eatondale complex has a troubled history, with six different owners since 2008, all but two of them out-of-town investors. In 2014, the city of Cincinnati declared the property a chronic nuisance. In 2016, Cornerstone Redevelopment bought it with the goal of converting the property to housing for seniors.

Cornerstone’s former owner, Charles Tassell, said he sold the property to Newark-based Radiant Property Management in August 2020 because he thought the company would be good stewards of the complex.

“The company we sold to was well-established, well-reflected with HUD, had the breadth and depth to kind of take it to that next level,” Tassell said. “So, it was a good fit for them and a good fit for us and we kind of stepped away at that point.”

Eatondale is one of 21 properties with 2,547 apartment units owned or managed by Radiant in five states, according to records from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Radiant also owns the King Tower apartment complex in Madisonville, according to Hamilton County property records.

The company has invested “well over $300,000” at Eatondale in the last 16 months, said Jonathan Unger, regional manager for Radiant, who provided receipts documenting more than $180,000 of that spending.

The improvements included “new common areas, plumbing work throughout, new flooring, new exteriors, new access control system, new security cameras and lighting (and) repaving of the entire property,” Unger wrote in an email to the WCPO 9 I-Team. “Additionally, we took a pre-emptive approach and went door-to-door to tenants’ apartments, asking if they had any maintenance needs.”

On Aug. 3, the building scored 95 out of a possible 100 from HUD’s Real Estate Assessment Center, which inspects subsidized housing. While the HUD inspection uncovered only minor deficiencies, city inspectors documented more serious problems eight days later.

“No progress with any repair,” wrote city inspector Matthew Flannery on Aug. 11. “The tenant/complainant (told Flannery) water is still getting on the floor of the common hallway when it rains and the mice infestation has gotten worse.”

On Oct. 20, Flannery documented the building’s failure to patch a “squirrel hole” that was first cited in February and was suspected of letting rodents and insects into the building.

Moore said her basement unit leaks when it rains and has no heat. She provided cell phone video showing puddles around her kitchen table and a dead mouse behind her couch.

“I hear so many people complaining,” Moore said. “We don’t have any heat. We don’t have no hot water. And I get so frustrated.”

Ward said there was a brief outage of heat and hot water in the last month, but those problems were quickly resolved. She also said all problems cited by city inspectors have been fixed and are awaiting a follow-up inspection to confirm those repairs.

“We do great work here,” Ward said. “Everything that’s supposed to be done is getting done.”

CINCINNATI — A longtime Cincinnati landlord is a "danger to the community" and should be jailed until his criminal stalking case is over, according to a motion filed on June 25 by Cincinnati's City Solicitor.

City prosecutors accuse the landlord, John Klosterman, 71, of repeatedly violating a civil stalking protection order that requires him to stay at least 500 feet away from his alleged victim, to not contact her or her employer, and to not encourage anyone else to contact her.

Lot Tan

The alleged victim is one of Klosterman's former tenants.

"John has continued to make my life hell by skirting the boundaries of the protection order," said the woman who accuses Klosterman of stalking her. "I have no peace."

WCPO normally does not use anonymous sources. In this case, the WCPO 9 I-Team agreed to not identify the woman because she's an alleged crime victim who is afraid, and she believes that she's less at risk in her own neighborhood if we don't identify her.

Klosterman "is engaging in illegal and unethical business practices under the guise of taking care of his personal affairs in order to continue causing emotional distress to the victim," wrote Susan Zurface, trial counsel for the city, in her motion to revoke Klosterman's bond.

The next court hearing is scheduled for July 7.

It's the latest chapter in Klosterman's legal problems that began two decades ago when city building inspectors first cited him for code violations at his rental properties.

WCPO staff

In 2016, a judge sentenced Klosterman to 60 days in jail for his "willful disregard" about a "hazardous" property he owned, according to court records.

Court records show a receivership controls dozens of Klosterman's properties in the Sedamsville neighborhood because he failed to pay a $578,000 court judgment for unpaid city taxes, violations, fines and fees.

Tri-State Organization is the property manager for the receivership. Klosterman's alleged victim works for the company.

"Klosterman has made innumerable complaints, attacking the victim's employer," Zurface wrote in her motion. "Within the past few weeks, at least thirty (30) complaints have been made by Defendant to the City of Cincinnati. Defendant has also contacted other local, State and Federal agencies and made false allegations relating to Tri-State Organization. Most of these complaints have been investigated, at great expense to each of those agencies and to Tri-State Organization."

In Sept. 2020, Klosterman and his wife, Sue, reached a Consent Decree with the United States Attorney's Office that bans them from renting or managing residential rental properties.

Under the Consent Decree, the Klostermans are also required to pay $167,000 to 20 other women who said John Klosterman violated the Fair Housing Act by sexually harassing them while they rented from him.

"In this settlement, Klosterman acknowledges that the United States has evidence he sexually harassed tenants on multiple occasions,” said then-U.S. Attorney David M. DeVillers in a Sept. 2020 news release.

DeVillers called Klosterman's conduct "heinous."

According to the city's motion, Klosterman owns and actively manages residential rental properties in Sedamsville that are not part of the receivership, a violation of the federal Consent Decree.

Craig Cheatham

In February, one of Klosterman's new companies, Bridges and Rivers, LLC, purchased a house at 634 Delhi Ave., according to records on the Hamilton County Auditor's website.

"On June 16, 2021, it was discovered that the water to this unit was shut off due to a second floor leak," wrote Zurface in her motion in municipal court. "Defendant told the tenant at 634 Delhi that, pending resumption of water service, the tenant could shower in another residential located at 621/623 Delhi, which is owned by Mr. Klosterman's company, John Jennagans LLC. That property is also NOT in the receivership."

Craig Cheatham

According to the Consent Decree, the Klostermans are required to notify the United States Attorney's Office within 30 days of acquiring a direct or indirect management or ownership of residential rental property that's not part of the receivership.

The Klostermans are also required to have a property manager approved by federal prosecutors for rental housing that's not part of the receivership, according to the Consent Decree.

In the city's motion, Zurface wrote, Klosterman "has never submitted agent information to the Federal Prosecutors office."

In her motion, Zurface wrote that Klosterman has interfered with Tri-State Organization's management of properties in the receivership and has interacted with tenants of those properties, which is prohibited under the receivership and Consent Decree.

The Klostermans could be fined up to $100,000 for each violation of the Consent Decree, according to a federal statute cited in the agreement.

The Consent Decree is in effect until October 2025, but it can be extended "if one or more Defendants violates one or more terms of the Decree or if the interests of justice so require," according to the agreement.

"The U.S. Attorney's Office is closely monitoring compliance with the Consent Decree and would be willing to take further steps if those measures are warranted," said Fred Alverson, spokesman for the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Ohio.

The Cincinnati Solicitor's office has not responded to the I-Team's requests for comment on the Klosterman case.

Last November, Municipal Judge Brad Greenberg revoked Klosterman's bond after prosecutors charged him for the fourth time with violating the protection order.

Court records show Greenberg later set a $150,000 bond for Klosterman, who posted the bond.

Greenberg also required Klosterman to be placed on "lockdown status" at Klosterman's home.

In addition, Klosterman must wear an electronic monitoring device.

"The victim cannot be protected from Defendant's actions while he remains out on bond and EMD," Zurface wrote in her motion to Greenberg.

In a text message to the I-Team, Klosterman declined our request for an interview.

"No comment," Klosterman responded. "But be there at court. Hear for yourself."