The difficulty involved in getting a derelict, uninhabited, fire-damaged, tax-delinquent house demolished came into sharp focus this week when Keimani Latigue’s body was discovered in a Miami Street structure.
“Any reasonable person would say that this building should have been torn down,” said Lucas Country Treasurer Lindsay Webb.
The East Toledo property is owned by Joseph Gordillo, who purchased it on April 29, 2024, for $4,000. Papers filed at the time of the purchase list Mr. Gordillo’s address as being in Albany, Ga., though more recent papers have an address in Newark, N.J.
At the time, the tax debt on the property, including interest and penalties, exceeded $3,970. Ms. Webb says that although the debt had largely been incurred by the previous owners, it became Mr. Gordillo’s obligation upon the purchase of the property.
Although Mr. Gordillo has made some property tax payments, the premises at 1101 Miami St. remains in arrears.
The property was declared a public nuisance by the city of Toledo on May 13, 2024. A notice of violation sent to Mr. Gordillo stated that “nuisance conditions that exist at this property are an immediate threat to the health, safety, or welfare of the public.”
The notice further stated that the property was vacant and had sustained fire damage. The chimneys, support posts, overhangs, doors, roofing, windows, porches, railings, siding, gutters, downspouts, and exterior were all in violation of the Toledo Municipal Code. An annotation on the notice reads, “Subject property is a demo property.”
Another notice sent the same day informed Mr. Gordillo that he had 30 days to abate the nuisance. It stated that failure to do so could subject him to criminal charges and a civil complaint.
On Monday, when Keimani’s body was found 329 days later, no criminal or civil actions had been commenced against Mr. Gordillo. There is no record of Mr. Gordillo making any serious attempt to comply with the city’s order.
Attempts to reach Mr. Gordillo for comment were unsuccessful.
A fire renders the house uninhabitable
The Miami Street property’s final descent to derelict status appears to have occurred on May 4, 2022, when the Toledo Fire Department responded to a fire at the premises.
At the time, the house was owned by Henri and Micheline Legagneur.
More than three months later, the city of Toledo brought suit against Mr. Legagneur in Toledo Municipal Court for failing or neglecting to obey an order to abate a public nuisance. When Mr. Legagneur failed to appear in court as summoned, a bench warrant was issued for his arrest.
On January 31, 2023, the defendant entered a plea of no contest to the charges and was found guilty. He was sentenced to 180 days in the Corrections Center of Northwest Ohio, but the sentence was stayed to give Mr. Legagneur an opportunity to remedy the code violations at the premises.
By June of 2023, the property had still not been brought into compliance. The court ruled that the city was allowed to enter the property to abate any and all nuisance conditions. Another bench warrant was issued for Mr. Legagneur. According to a Toledo Municipal Court clerk, the case is still open.
Mr. Legagneur could not be reached for comment.
Following the discovery of Keimani’s body in the house, the city took steps to expedite demolition of the property, but no specific date has been set for the demolition.
A question of priorities
Various public entities can be involved when a property falls into derelict condition.
The Toledo Department of Code Compliance is tasked with property inspections and ensuring compliance with all city ordinances. Its stated mission is to “respond to complaints, eliminate nuisance, and enforce health and safety regulations as it pertains to property maintenance and zoning codes in the City of Toledo.”
The Lucas County treasurer is responsible for collecting taxes on residential properties and has the power to bring legal actions against property owners who are in arrears on their property taxes.
The Toledo Municipal Court has the power to punish those who fail to keep their properties up.
The Lucas County Land Bank occasionally oversees the demolition of derelict properties but usually in the context of nuisance buildings it owns.
In the case of 1101 Miami St., an uninhabited fire-damaged building was allowed to blight a neighborhood for almost three years.
Douglas Johnson, the director of collections for the Lucas County Treasurer’s Office, said that the Toledo Police Department convenes a quarterly meeting of various agencies that have an interest in remedying derelict properties. The meetings are attended by community relations officers, the police and fire departments, the Ohio Department of Liquor Control, the Lucas County treasurer, and the city’s Department of Code Compliance.
“Everybody has a role. Each has a different tool,” Mr. Johnson said.
Councilman Theresa Gadus, who represents the district where the Miami Street property is located, said that the house is one of many in her district that is on her radar for demolition.
“One of the problems, since I’ve been on council, is just how long houses sit that are caught on fire,” Ms. Gadus told The Blade. “I think that there’s a piece missing in how to handle it.”
Since resources for demolition and enforcement are limited, the task is prioritized by those properties that are the subject of the largest number of police calls. Toledo police records show only one call concerning the Miami Street property, a report involving a stolen car from July, 2022.
“How do we get these siloed government agencies to work together?” Treasurer Webb asked rhetorically. “That’s the key question.”
First Published March 30, 2025, 11:30 a.m.
