08/16/12 The following statement from Reverend Dr. Ronald W. Liechty, President of Garden Court, Inc., addresses the August 14 incident at Garden Court West Apartments:
On Monday, August 13 a maintenance employee of Garden Court West Apartments witnessed an unknown individual placing trash in the property’s dumpster. Not recognizing the individual to be a resident of the complex, our employee followed up by checking to see what was discarded. Believing the package to be suspicious, property management staff promptly alerted local law enforcement. Our maintenance technician’s vigilance led to four arrests for drug-related offenses the next morning.
Local law enforcement called in the State Police Meth Team for assistance. When police subsequently located evidence that methamphetamine may have been produced in the apartment, full clean-up and remediation steps were taken as a precautionary measure.
Garden Court West, like every not-for-profit Garden Court complex, undertakes thorough background checks on prospective tenants. Unfortunately, as this case shows, we cannot always control who our tenants invite on the property as guests.
Garden Court West is a federally-subsidized, affordable community. Under the strict federal rules governing the funds which helped provide this popular housing option for area seniors, two populations must be eligible for residence: 1) seniors 62 years of age or older 2) and individuals of any age with a disability.
We regret the inconvenience and concern this incident has caused our tenants and residents of the surrounding neighborhood. The combined Garden Court properties serve 333 low-income households, and this is our first meth-related incident. We hope it will also be our last. Our property managers will continue to work proactively with law enforcement to help ensure the safety and comfort of our many law-abiding residents.
