Gregory B. Reed: Commercial crime down? Not for my buildings

Re “Big dip seen in property crimes” (Page A1, Nov. 12): I find it hard to believe that the commercial crime fell by 13 percent; I have been a victim multiple times just this year.

I was issued a notice of violation from the city of Modesto for trash being all over in our garbage bunker at 900 H Street. We called the police in regard to this issue and stood there with a police officer watching a vagrant go through the trash; nothing was done about it. It is cleaned up every Monday, but by Monday night it’s a mess again.

At the same building, the copper was stolen from the water sprinkler shutoff valves. This also happened at my 912 11th Street building. I installed a cage, but the vagrants still were able to shut off the water.

At my 1012 11th Street building, a vagrant was sleeping and leaving feces in our stairwell for about a month. My assistant has called the city and police numerous times in this regard. The city said it was my problem and there was nothing they could do about it. My maintenance man caught him masturbating in the stairwell. The police were called, but by the time they responded he had fled. The police call him the Red Devil. I was told there is a warrant for his arrest in Chico but it costs too much to take him there.

We have lost tenants due to homeless trespassers. I believe frustrated commercial building owners have quit reporting crimes due to nothing being done.

This story was originally published November 19, 2014 at 11:32 AM with the headline "Gregory B. Reed: Commercial crime down? Not for my buildings."