A Day in Court (continued): Meeting the Judge
Pleading indigence and ignorance, Nadya Mahdavi stood before the court Wednesday afternoon and declared: "I don't even know why I'm here."
Mahdavi (on the right in her Facebook picture at a Halloween party) stands accused as an individual and as officer of the firm that
owns the single family home that became a tenement of four misdemeanor criminal violations of LA.'s building code.
It was a remarkable Van Nuys Muncipal Court appearance for the leading suspect in this mystery that has dragged on since March, much to the frustration and anger of many of my neighbors who see the conversion of this 2,000 square foot house into a tenement with three apartments and 12 or so rooms as a threat to the quality of their lives.
Mahdavi, joined by her husband Nasir Shaikh, were kept cooling their heels from 9 a.m. in part because she failed to appear in court when summoned previously and in part for "attitude adjustment" because as Commissioner Rebecca Omens noted she was overheard calling Assistant City Attorney Don Cocek "a piece of shit."
Cocek, who spends all day trying to get people to comply with the law rather than go to jail, offended by Mahdavi by asking if she had a lawyer and cutting off the conversation on how to restore the house to its original state when she insisted she wanted a Public Defender.
Mahdavi's Facebook page says she attended Chatsworth and El Camino high schools and is the president of Wall Street Properties, "an investment firm with real estate and mortgage division." She and her husband also own a Porsche and a Mercedes, Cocek noted.
And she is listed as an officer of Fidelity Investments Group LLC which bought the house at 19953 Haynes St. this summer from Claudia Perez, an employee of Wall Street Properties, who bought the house in May from Mahdavi who bought the house out of foreclosure in January.
She was cited for construction without a permit in March but flipped the house before the issue could be resolved and the units were rented in May and June -- asking price $5,500 for the three -- which led to more citations for an illegal structure and other violations and the purchase by Fidelity Investments.
For the neighbors, the case has dragged on interminably and there's no end in sight.
It took a long time before Building and Safety could track down several possible residences where she might live and the cops to leave a note that a warrant was issued for failure to appear in court in September and for her to show up at the Devonshire Division Police Station with a lawyer to be booked, fingerprinted and released on $5,000 cash bail.
The Public Defender didn't buy her plea of poverty so Mahdavi appeared before Commissioner Omens and pleaded that she had four kids and was getting separated from her husband. And besides, she had never been served with papers, perhaps because her office had moved from West Hills to Encino.
"I don't own this property anymore," she said. "I purchased it from the bank and sold it."
She knew nothing of her connection to Fidelity Investments, which shows up in Secretary of State filings with her husband as the agent of service.
Omens, who seemed ready to jail her at one point, suggested Mahdavi needed to get a lawyer and ordered her to come back next Thursday.
"Am I allowed to come without an attorney?" she asked. "I don't have a penny for an attorney. Can I know why I'm here? I don't know."
Cocek calmly explained the charges and her role as defined in the incorporation papers.
Her husband sat quietly in the audience throughout the hearing and whispered "sorry" to her when they left the courtroom..
To be continued...
Pleading indigence and ignorance, Nadya Mahdavi stood before the court Wednesday afternoon and declared: "I don't even know why I'm here."
Mahdavi (on the right in her Facebook picture at a Halloween party) stands accused as an individual and as officer of the firm that
owns the single family home that became a tenement of four misdemeanor criminal violations of LA.'s building code.It was a remarkable Van Nuys Muncipal Court appearance for the leading suspect in this mystery that has dragged on since March, much to the frustration and anger of many of my neighbors who see the conversion of this 2,000 square foot house into a tenement with three apartments and 12 or so rooms as a threat to the quality of their lives.
Mahdavi, joined by her husband Nasir Shaikh, were kept cooling their heels from 9 a.m. in part because she failed to appear in court when summoned previously and in part for "attitude adjustment" because as Commissioner Rebecca Omens noted she was overheard calling Assistant City Attorney Don Cocek "a piece of shit."
Cocek, who spends all day trying to get people to comply with the law rather than go to jail, offended by Mahdavi by asking if she had a lawyer and cutting off the conversation on how to restore the house to its original state when she insisted she wanted a Public Defender.
Mahdavi's Facebook page says she attended Chatsworth and El Camino high schools and is the president of Wall Street Properties, "an investment firm with real estate and mortgage division." She and her husband also own a Porsche and a Mercedes, Cocek noted.
And she is listed as an officer of Fidelity Investments Group LLC which bought the house at 19953 Haynes St. this summer from Claudia Perez, an employee of Wall Street Properties, who bought the house in May from Mahdavi who bought the house out of foreclosure in January.
She was cited for construction without a permit in March but flipped the house before the issue could be resolved and the units were rented in May and June -- asking price $5,500 for the three -- which led to more citations for an illegal structure and other violations and the purchase by Fidelity Investments.
For the neighbors, the case has dragged on interminably and there's no end in sight.
It took a long time before Building and Safety could track down several possible residences where she might live and the cops to leave a note that a warrant was issued for failure to appear in court in September and for her to show up at the Devonshire Division Police Station with a lawyer to be booked, fingerprinted and released on $5,000 cash bail.
The Public Defender didn't buy her plea of poverty so Mahdavi appeared before Commissioner Omens and pleaded that she had four kids and was getting separated from her husband. And besides, she had never been served with papers, perhaps because her office had moved from West Hills to Encino.
"I don't own this property anymore," she said. "I purchased it from the bank and sold it."
She knew nothing of her connection to Fidelity Investments, which shows up in Secretary of State filings with her husband as the agent of service.
Omens, who seemed ready to jail her at one point, suggested Mahdavi needed to get a lawyer and ordered her to come back next Thursday.
"Am I allowed to come without an attorney?" she asked. "I don't have a penny for an attorney. Can I know why I'm here? I don't know."
Cocek calmly explained the charges and her role as defined in the incorporation papers.
Her husband sat quietly in the audience throughout the hearing and whispered "sorry" to her when they left the courtroom..
To be continued...
Ron Kaye is the former editor of the Los Angeles Daily News where he spent 23 years helping to make the newspaper the voice of the San Fernando Valley and fighting for a city government that serves the people and not special interests.
Twice in recent years, Los Angeles Magazine listed Kaye among the city’s most influential people, specifically in the area of politics. Kaye has been variously described in the media as the “accidental anarchist,” “the Patrick Henry of the San Fernando Valley” and a “passionate populist.” He is now committed to
carrying on his crusade for a greater Los Angeles as an ordinary citizen. Previously, Ron worked at the Los Angeles Herald Examiner,
Associated Press, Cleveland Plain Dealer and The Australian as well as papers
in Fairbanks, Alaska and Yakima, Wash. He also wrote for Newsweek magazine, The Guardian in London and the National Enquirer.
This story reminded me of a line by Al Pacino's character in Scarface in which he describes his attitude toward Miami.
Mr. Don Cocek, Esq. is my hero. He's one of the few people I've met who are in a true position of authority in Los Angeles who seems both tireless and genuine in his pursuit of justice for Angelenos. I love this man. We need people like Cocek in our public offices instead of the lazy liars that populate much of the powerful positions in this town.
Go get 'em, Don!!!!!!!
My take on it, one of those two youngsters has a rich daddy who's advising them. Those two are just following a game plan (or else they're simply just clowns). It will drag on forever, unless you expose more.
Find out who's behind this scheme. If it originated from daddy, then write about their stories. It could be juicy or else it just may be that they are accomplished doctors, lawyers, etc., not so juicy. Either way, those two need an emphasis to clean up the mess that they made.
I think I know what you mean, Chris. "We have a green card and a job in Miami, we got it made". The world is yours if you have the balls. At one time those atttitudes built our country. Well meaning productive migrants from the Eastern U.S. and immigrants from other countries had the balls to create great things.
Or they had the balls to organize the Mafia. Then as now America was wide open for explotation.
And don't forget this thought- there may be many other situations like this one where justice remains an elusive goal by the manipulation of assorted documents that operate to shake off all but the most determined of pursuers.
These folks don't sound like any sophisticated type of property owner. Instead, they were probably trained by somebody else on how to elude accounatbiity by using title transfers and other devices.
Other absentee landlords have probably gone down that path and your story is important for demonstrating what's left in their wake- and especially so in showing the relentless passage of time that extends the frustration of neighbors as each phase of the process arrives in such a painfully slow manner, and with very small increments of progress.
You might say City government should lead by example, with ethical behavior a guiding principal, and the public will have a model for their own conduct..
In this case, maybe that's what happened- of course, it looks like the path taken is one guided by unethical and selfish actions, as that is exactly what the City "leaders" present for an example. And like the property owners in this slice of life, the City "leaders" show not even the slightest remorse, shame or expectation of being held accountable for anything they do, beoming defensive and often, becoming offensive in tactics and personality.
Neighborhoodwatchbear, I agree. The line I was thinking of was something like "Miami is just a big p**** waiting to be f*****." These people value our city and its neighborhoods only to the extent that they can cheat or leech off of them. That and the good weather.
i had this judge for a misdemeanor case i caught she does not play man im suprised she didnt get jail time!!!!!! watch out for omens...