Three weeks after a fire at a high-rise apartment building in Revere, Massachusetts, a lawmaker is calling for criminal charges.
The fire broke out on a large roof deck at the Water's Edge apartments on Ocean Avenue on June 21, displacing about 100 people.
Last week, the city condemned the building, deeming it "unfit for human habitation."
Now, Massachusetts Sen. Lydia Edwards is pushing for Carabetta Companies, the building's owner, to be charged.
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"There are certain criminal statutes that I know that the Suffolk DA, they just told me they're looking into and researching," Edwards said. "It's a lot of things to go through, a lot of violations to look at."
Carabetta Companies owes Revere more than $1 million in outstanding bills, and the city has issued more than 70 fines to the company since 2004, according to a statement from Mayor Brian Arrigo.
The company has multiple properties, including high-rise buildings in Malden with units listed as being available.
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"They have extra units that are empty and refusing to let these tenants who've been burned out of their other units live there," Edwards said.
Tenants have not received deposits back from Carabetta or a $750 relocation fee. Management posted a letter Tuesday with insurance information for tenants seeking relocation benefits.
"The ability to go to work, the ability to live a dignified life — all of that was taken away from them, and this company has not lifted a finger," Edwards said.
The city is considering taking criminal action. Arrigo wrote in a statement last week that Revere "will not allow Carabetta to disregard their obligations to our city and their residents" and will "pursue every legal option available to hold them accountable for their inaction."
"The company should be reimbursing the City of Revere. It should clean up all their properties, and they really shouldn't be allowed to grow or develop at all in Revere or Malden or any place that they are in the state of Massachusetts until every single one of these individuals is housed and every single one of them receives the money that is owed to them by law," Edwards said.
NBC10 Boston has called and emailed Carabetta Companies, but has not heard back.
