Dogs in padlocked Modesto apartments lead to confrontation with manager

The manager of an apartment building condemned by Modesto said two former tenants tried to kick in his security door and threatened him and his wife. The threats came after two apartments had been padlocked, with dogs left inside.

Police arrested one man after he allegedly threw a chair at another tenant.

The drama unfolded late Sunday and early Monday at the two-story apartment building at 624 Ninth St. The owner had an eviction service give tenants 30 or 60 days to leave, depending on how long they have lived in the building, or face having the owner start legal proceedings to evict them. The 30 days was up Monday, but the eviction service company said the owner had not instructed it on whether to pursue evictions.

Manager Gary Anderson said the building’s owner, Steve Arakelian, is having apartments padlocked as tenants leave because they are not returning the keys. But tenants living in the building said the other tenants still have pets and belongings in their apartments. Anderson said three apartments were padlocked Sunday, but a check showed two apartments had padlocks, and the door to the third had been kicked in.

Police spokeswoman Heather Graves said Anderson called police at 10:50 p.m. Sunday to report a former tenant had threatened him and his wife. She said about 11:30 p.m. someone called to report someone in the building had a gun. She said police were back at 12:15 a.m. on a report that a door was being kicked in.

Graves said she did not know whether officers found a gun. Anderson said several other former tenants also were at the building.

Graves said police got the keys from Anderson and let the former tenants check on their pets. She said one tenant took two dogs while the others left them because they did not have a place to take them. But she said the dogs were well cared for. She said police left the keys with Anderson.

Anderson on Monday mistakenly thought all of the dogs had been returned to the tenants. Several dogs started barking Monday afternoon when a reporter knocked on the two doors with padlocks.

This story was originally published August 14, 2017 at 6:17 PM with the headline "Dogs in padlocked Modesto apartments lead to confrontation with manager."