Police say they uncovered a junkyard filled with stolen goods, and boarders living in "deplorable" conditions.
By SHANNON COLAVECCHIO-VAN SICKLER and BRADY DENNIS
Published March 2, 2004
TAMPA - Detectives knocked on Juan Soler's door expecting to find a couple of stolen items - loot from a burglary and grand theft case involving another suspect.
But police say they uncovered a junkyard filled with dozens of stolen goods, and several boarders living in "deplorable" conditions reminiscent of a Third World slum.
"It looked like you'd gone to another country, where people are still living without running water," said Tampa police Detective Ann Marie DeMesa. "And the deeper and deeper we got into this property, we found more and more. It was horrible."
Police on Saturday arrested Soler, 51, and charged him with violating Florida's littering law, a felony.
Soler's property at 2006 N 61st St. was condemned after code enforcement officials found he was storing dozens of broken-down vehicles, old appliances and piles of junk on his fenced lot that takes up almost an entire block.
Several poorly built apartments on site were vacated, the residents placed in a special shelter program. Police say the boarders paid $70 a week, even though the small units had no utilities.
Police say Soler, a machine operator, also used his lot to bury trash and paint, which is toxic. And residents told police that Soler ran an illegal pawn shop and chop shop from the east Tampa property.
According to a police report, several of the vehicles were not registered and had only temporary tags that are used to transport vehicles from one location to another.
Detectives confirmed one vehicle on site was stolen, and they found several auto parts stored in a trailer, according to the report.
Soler was released Saturday after posting a $3,000 bond, but police stressed Monday that the investigation could result in more charges.
It is a prime example, they say, of how law enforcement can work with other agencies to improve east Tampa.
Already, the case has caught the attention of code enforcement and animal control, which removed two dogs and four cats from the site. It's also likely that state and federal agencies including the Environmental Protection Agency will get involved, said Manny Martinez, a crime prevention officer for District 3.
"There is a creek running behind the property, and we're not sure yet where it runs to," said Martinez. "We haven't called EPA yet, but we will."
Detectives DeMesa and Amy Keck happened upon Soler's property while interviewing a suspect in a burglary and grand theft case. Their suspect told them Soler had been buying up stolen items, the detectives said.
But they said they never expected to find a property with raw sewage running through it, and enough items to fill three legal-sized notebook pages.
"Appliances, lawn equipment, cars, motorcycles, TVs, refrigerators," DeMesa said Monday. "You name it, he had it."
On Monday evening, Soler and his friends and relatives were working to clear the property, as code enforcement officials ordered.
But all sorts of rubbish still covered the property - shopping carts, sheet metal, water heaters, air conditioning units, tires, old pipes, rusted bicycles.
Neighbors wheeled gas grills down the street to their own homes. Workers tried to start a car they no longer had the keys to.
Soler's nephew, 20-year-old Joel Soler, said family members have worked past dark each night since police first came, trying to get the lot cleared.
They started with 23 junked cars on the lot, for example, and had whittled it down to only a few by sunset on Monday.
Asked about the stolen goods police say they found on his property, including a stolen car, Juan Soler shrugged his shoulders.
"A man just asked me if he could park his car here awhile," said the married father of two, who goes by the nickname Caco. "I just buy junk and sell junk, to make a little extra money."
Orange condemnation signs were posted on his house, and on the adjacent unit where his sister and brother-in-law remained Monday night with their children.
Yet Soler was optimistic.
"I was worried at first," he said. "But they tell me just to clean it up, and everything's all right."
