KISSIMMEE, Fla. — An Osceola County judge has ruled that a hotel owner owing thousands of dollars won’t face any consequences for now.
- Owner of Lake Cecile owes nearly $30,000 in unpaid bills
- Judge decided Tuesday to no hold her in civil contempt
- Power and water at the motel was disconnected in December
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An evidentiary hearing was held Tuesday afternoon to see if the corporation behind Lake Cecile Inn & Suites on U.S. 192 should or should not be held in civil contempt for owing nearly $30,000 in unpaid utility bills.
Mary Nguyen, the hotel owner, said in court that Lake Cecile couldn’t afford to pay the debt because tenants weren’t paying rent. The judge decided to not hold Lake Cecile in contempt, because they did not find that Nguyen intentionally stopped paying the bills.
In January, Nguyen brought in Teena Conley as a property manager to handle the hotel’s business matters. “I am trying to pull this business out of the mud while helping people along the way,” Conley said.
Conley said seven units are still occupied, about 25 people are still living at the hotel despite power and water getting disconnected back in December for the lack of payments to Kissimmee Utility Authority and Toho Water.
The hotel has gone through several woes in the last couple of months. About two weeks ago Osceola County deputies said someone intentionally set a fire at Lake Cecile.
“I lived about a month without electricity here,” said Yamilette Sierra, who spoke to Spectrum News 13’s Stephanie Bechara in Spanish. Sierra is five months pregnant with two kids and having trouble finding affordable housing.
Lake Cecile is filled with trash and debris on the ground, shattered windows and extension cables running power from the Star Motel next door. “We’ve had vandalism, we had somebody take an ax and hit the pipes so that our place would flood because it was like revenge,” Conley said. “We’ve had people come in here steal 50 air conditioners and at least 100 microwaves, I am not even joking.”
Conley said she’s moved more than 20 families from Lake Cecile to the Star Motel which has running water and power. Her goal is to empty out Lake Cecile and renovate the place. Conley said she is allowing licensed electricians and other maintenance type laborers to live at the Star Motel while they work on rehabbing both hotels.
“This is about rebuilding our community right now, this is not just about an electric and a water bill and a couple of people this is about a whole families, whole communities coming together to get this done,” Conley explained.
During the hearing Nguyen testified that Lake Cecile endured vandalism and theft prior to the utilities getting cut off. “I was informed that there are Puerto Rican gangs… Somehow that check in to the property so the problem has started since they arrived at our property,” Nguyen said. “And they made it impossible for us to run the business with the members of the gangs in the property.”
The matter became legal when lawyer Jeremy Hogan who represents one of the Lake Cecile tenants filed an emergency temporary injunction against the hotel back in December. The injunction was to get the water and electricity back up at Lake Cecile but that did not happen.
“In our system a business can operate, take in money… Run a business on a particular piece of property, take money from people, not pay its bills and then when they get ordered to pay their bills they can simply say we don't have the money,” said Clay Schacht, the chief trial attorney at Hogan & Hogan Law Firm. “And a new business can come along and run that business on that same property and do the same exact thing but they don’t have to pay those bills and I think that’s a bit unfair and a little disingenuous as well.”
Mary Fitzgibbons the attorney that represents Nguyen was satisfied with the judge’s ruling. “We’re very thankful and appreciative of the judge’s ruling and how everyone has come together to make things better on the property and we look forward to a better future for everyone,” Fitzgibbons said.
While Sierra and her family were able to move next door to the Star Motel she said the conditions there are not perfect either and doesn't know what her future may hold. “This is not easy but we have to keep fighting, keep working despite all these problems,” she added.
An injunction to pay for the bills is still under effect.
More than 20 residents continue to live at the hotel without power and water, and have been doing so since December 2019.