Former NFL star under fire for dilapidated Cleveland apartment building
CLEVELAND (WJW) – The FOX 8 I-Team has found a former football star hauled into court in Cleveland over a dilapidated apartment building.
You may remember Manti Te’o when he made national headlines after getting tricked by a fake girlfriend.
Now, the city of Cleveland law director considers him an out-of-state slum landlord.
Near East 142th and Miles, you can find an empty apartment building in disrepair with trash piled up.
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The city says the head of the company that owns the property is former Notre Dame and NFL star Manti Teo.
Te’o Legacy has been cited for a list of housing code violations at that apartment building.
“That is an eyesore,” said Marilyn Owens, looking over from her porch across the street. “He won’t fix his house? He’s just making money, collecting, right?”
Te’o made headlines years ago when he fell for a scam and what turned out to be a fake girlfriend.
“It’s definitely embarrassing,” he later said. “Walk into a grocery store and people do double-takes. Definitely embarrassing.”
We asked Cleveland Law Director Mark Griffin if it’s too strong to use the term “slum landlord.”
“It’s not too strong,” he said. “We expect everyone to follow our rules and keep up our housing.”
Griffin added that he’s not concerned with the former player’s fame, only building code violations. City records show they date back a year and a half.
“This is not a victimless crime. This affects the entire neighborhood because the people that live in that neighborhood shouldn’t have to live next to a slumlord,” Griffin said. “We want a strong hit on this linebacker. We want to make sure that he doesn’t do it again.”
In days, Te’o must appear again in housing court for sentencing. Weeks ago, he pleaded no contest on behalf of his company to 10 charges for code violations. But, Te’o does not have to worry about jail time. The city is, actually prosecuting the company owning the property.
“Obviously we have received complaints,” said Director of Building and Housing Sally Martin-O’Toole.
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She told us Teo’s company owns 20 properties in Cleveland. He also could face citations for repairs needed at other buildings.
This comes to light with a new city campaign to crack down on landlords.
“It’s protection for renters and it’s an aggressive approach, especially to out-of-state landlords that we often can’t hold accountable for the condition of their properties,” Martin-O’ Toole said.
We found no one at that apartment building on East 142th.
We left messages for Te’o, but we did not get a response. We also reached out to his attorney multiple times, and we also did not get a response.
Owens told us she’s glad to hear of action on the building across the street.
“Yeah, we’re all paying taxes and stuff. We don’t want to live like that. We shouldn’t have to live like that,” she said.
At the sentencing coming up in housing court, Teo’s company could get fined. The judge could also give the company a strict timeline to fix up that property.
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