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Without water and power, Clearwater residents swelter

News Channel 8 photo by MAURICE CAPOBIANCO

John William Gravelle lives in one of the units that lost utilities after someone tampered with the power supply.

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By MARK  DOUGLAS | News Channel 8

Published: June 30, 2009

CLEARWATER - Pinellas County code enforcement officers this morning may condemn a residential complex where people have been living without water and power for days.

Monday afternoon, social service agencies started delivering water, ice and hotel vouchers to tenants of five apartments in Clearwater who've been sweltering without utilities since Thursday because someone tampered with their power source.

The temperature inside the small room John Gravelle, 55, rents for $500 a month reached 88 degrees by Monday morning, and he had no water to keep him cool.

But Gravelle had his share of troubles even before Progress Energy cut the electricity to his apartment on Westminister Avenue.

"I live on disability, had a couple of strokes and I have a lung condition," Gravelle said.

There was no electricity for the well pump Gravelle's landlord rigged up as a drinking supply for the ramshackle, four-building complex with eight units.

The landlord, Lawrence Ernest Ayers, 42, isn't answering calls from tenants and wasn't at his Bay Wood Drive home in Safety Harbor Monday.

Pinellas code enforcement officers condemned another complex of duplexes in Oldsmar owned by Ayers June 19.

Last year, Ayers was cited for two code violations, including one that involved electricity, according to jail records.

The recent Oldsmar case has been referred to the Pinellas County State Attorney's Office for possible criminal charges involving utility theft by sheriff's office investigators who are still working on the case in Clearwater.

In both cases, investigators say someone rigged meters to steal electricity.

Progress Energy says it cut off the power last week as a safety measure for residents.

By Late Monday, Pinellas County was trying to help residents find new accommodations and so was the Florida Department of Children & Families.

DCF is working with Marsha Bassler, 59, and her mentally challenged son, Chris. Bassler has been paying Ayers $725 a month rent for the past year.

Her power bill has tripled since she moved in. Someone wired another rental unit into her meter, according to progress Energy. That could account for bills that reached $320 for her tiny apartment.

Bassler was homeless before moving into one of Ayers' duplexes.

"He seemed nice and helped me move in," she said.

Now, without help from DCF or another agency, Bassler isn't sure where she can go or how she'll get there. Monday, she didn't even have a box in which to pack her belongings, and Badcock & more was reclaiming the air conditioning window unit she no longer has any electricity to run.

"I keep praying to God and saying, 'God you've given me too much,'" Bassler said.

Code inspectors plan on visiting the duplexes today and say they'll treat Ayers as a repeat violator if they confirm the same problems they spotted in Oldsmar.

"More than likely if it's the same stuff, we'll issue citations," said Todd Myers, Pinellas County Code Enforcement Director.

Reporter Mark Douglas can be reached at (727) 709-2753.

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