(Newswire.net — December 28, 2013) Idaho Springs, CO. — “If this cold hearted person can turn out a disabled war veteran, what is he going to do to any of us,” an outraged Idaho Springs business owner declares. “I was furious when I heard that this disabled war veteran who wishes to remain anonymous, because he is obviously being persecuted by Kamalesh Patel, was turned out of his home when it was 20 degrees below zero. Even though this war veteran had given Kamalesh Patel a $1,250 deposit for the home at 2712 Colorado Blvd. Idaho Spriungs, CO., the disabled war veteran was turned out into freezing temperatures for withholding rent for 2 weeks because the heat stopped working in the home. He had some heat until he was told to run the over 40 year old boiler that was not working very well 24/7, to supply heat to an adjacent business also, which obviously overloaded the old boiler, causing both the war veterans home, and the business now to have no heat.”
The heat reportedly stopped working consistently weeks earlier, and the disabled war veteran kept reporting this to the slumlord Kamalesh Patel, who just kept giving him excuses that he was too busy to drive up or have it fixed properly, and could the war veteran just work on the old gas boiler himself.
This home is attached to a thrift shop that also was suffering from heat loss. The thrift shop proprietors reported “Kamalesh Patel showed up a couple of weeks after we let him know there was no heat, and all he said was I have purchased a heater, but I drove up here to see if it would fit into the window. I can bring it back up next week, and you (the shop proprietors) will have to remove the glass from your window and install it yourself if you want heat.” The Thrift Shop proprietors explained to Kamalesh Patel that they could not remove their window during sub zero temperatures, and it was not their responsibility to make these repairs. After Kamalesh Patel was informed of this, he told them to have the disabled war veteran run his boiler 24/7, because it was attached to the store and he would cover the bill.
The war veteran, concerned about the shop proprietors during the sub zero temperatures did as he was ordered, and ran the old gas boiler 24/7 which burned it out in about 2 weeks. “Now we are both without heat, so my only recourse to get Kamalesh Patel to fix these things is to not pay rent until he shows up,” the disabled war veteran explained. “He showed up alright with an eviction notice, and refused to pay the $368 bill I now have for running the boiler 24/7 under his orders. At least I have witnesses when this case finally gets to court, however I am now out in the cold looking for a new residence, also out my deposit that Kamalesh Patel refuses to refund because of the 2 weeks rent I withheld because of the non working boiler. I couldn’t even heat the home with the oven, because it stopped working months before. Every time I tried to plug in an electric heater to keep me warm, the old breakers blew, and home depot said they have not even manufactured them for over 40 years. Another thing that Kamalesh Patel has refused to fix in his rundown home.”
This is an outrage, are we going to silently stand by America and let our war veterans be treated this way by people like Kamalesh Patel?