Former Shiloh landlord awaits sentencing

A former Shiloh landlord is still awaiting sentencing for criminal housing management convictions.

Hassan A. Abrahim, 51, resident and former owner of 19 properties in the village, was convicted on Dec. 15, 2015 of three counts of criminal housing management in Shiloh — and those are just the most recent charges against him.

The three most Class A misdemeanor charges filed against him were filed on Oct. 14, 2015 and was convicted on Dec. 15, 2015, according to St. Clair County Circuit Clerk court records.

Abrahim’s sentencing, financial payment and motions hearings for five criminal housing management charges have been continued to April 7, 12 and May 19.

As of Tuesday, St. Clair County Circuit Clerk court records indicate Abrahim still owes $350 in outstanding fines for two of the criminal housing management charges in Shiloh are dated the same as his arrest dates on July 28 and Aug. 7, 2015.

The offense dates are listed as July 27 and Aug. 4, 2015.

He was sentenced for the July 27 offense on Dec. 15, 2015. But that case has been delayed until a May 19 motions hearing.

Abrahim was sentenced for the Aug. 4 offense on Jan. 12, 2016, and is slated for a financial payment hearing on April 12.

This brings Abrahim’s total criminal housing management charges to five since 2015.

According to an itemized list provided by Shiloh Police obtained through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request by the Progress, Abrahim was involved, mainly as the suspect, in 52 Shiloh Police Department (Shiloh PD) reports from 2014-2015.

According to court records, Abrahim has a record dating back to 1995. His cases range from 10 felony cases, with the last one filed Aug. 28, 2013 for multiple domestic battery charges, none are pending currently.

There are also 17 misdemeanor cases filed against Abrahim, with the last one filed Oct. 14, 2015 for criminal housing management, five are still pending court appearances.

Abrahim has 36 other cases filed, with the last one filed Sept. 15, 2015 and is pending for a class P traffic violation of failing to reduce speed while driving in Belleville. The latter, Abrahim is slated to have his first court appearance at the St. Clair County courthouse on April 7.

Abrahim and handful of remaining tenants were court ordered on behalf of First County Bank, on Feb. 18, to be out of rentals by March 16.

Abrahim declined to comment after the trial in December 2015, and his legal counselor Mark Peebles, of Peebles & Associates, did not return phone calls or emails Tuesday.

Filing a suit against Abrahim Dec. 4, 2012, First County Bank took ownership of all 19 of his mortgage defaulted properties in 2015, and then re-sold to two local rental management companies. The two companies are Green Door Apartments and Sean Turner Custom Homes, and both failed to return phone calls.

Previous tenants speak out

One previous tenant, LaTanya Simms, referred to Abrahim as a “shady” landlord. She alleged Abrahim stole her money and never fixed substantial plumbing and heating and cooling units before she attempted to move into a 5 Sarpy Drive Apartment D owned by Abrahim.

She said this resulted in her losing all of her belongings and furniture, money and was out a place to stay for her and her son.

The report states the alleged incident took place July 15, 2015, and was reported to Shiloh Police Department on July 27, 2015 by Simms. The offense description states the (alleged) theft was obtained by deception control over property by owner, according to a Shiloh Police report.

“I was really in need for somewhere for me and my son to live and Hassan saw this as an opportunity to take from my son and I,” Simms said.

“I gave him (my) first and last month’s rent ($1,100) and a deposit, plus $40 for (him to get) an occupancy permit to file in Shiloh.”

Simms alleged all of turned out that Abrahim gave her were falsified.

“I went to the police station several days in the row and they continued to tell me that they couldn’t do anything,” Simms said. “My son and I are still trying to find somewhere to live, but it is just hard to trust anyone since this man has taken from us.”

Simms has been living with her family in East St. Louis because she claims she was conned by Abrahim last summer.

“I just got a new place of my own for my son and I to move into very soon in East St. Louis — I’m never going back to Shiloh,” Simms said Tuesday.

According to the Village of Shiloh occupancy, permit and inspection paperwork obtained through FOIA requests by the Progress, occupancy permits must be obtained by the tenant, planning to live in the space, and cost $10, not $40 like Simms allegedly stated Abrahim told her last summer when he demanded that on top of the $1,100 in fees, so he could go to the village. Moreover, there were no occupancy or building permits issued for 5 Sarpy Drive, Apt. D in 2015.

The lease for Simms apartment was signed either on July 15 or 17 in 2015. There were inaccuracies on the lease document provided by Simms, which she alleged was altered by Abrahim.

“I’m from East St. Louis, I didn’t know how things were done up here (in Shiloh), I just took him on his word and handshake, I never thought he’d do me like that,” Simms said when asked why she provided cash without a receipt and allowed Abrahim to alter dates on his lease document. “Then he went out of the country and wouldn’t return my calls when I went to the apartment to start living there — that was convenient for him I guess, but not for us because I had already moved all my stuff and furniture in.”

Previously, Ryan Holiwell said he allegedly fell victim to Abrahim when he was forced to leave 2619 Sierra Drive, Apt. 2 because it was “not safe for occupancy,” according to signage posted around and on the building by village staff.

During the two-hour long bench trial on Dec. 15, 2015, Norm Etling, Shiloh village engineer, told the court he informed Holiwell that he and Shiloh Police feared for him and his family’s safety.

Despite the negative feelings Holiwell has for Abrahim today, in December 2015, he told the courts, while he acted as Abrahim’s main witness, he didn’t feel like Abrahim was a “terrible landlord, just not a good one,” when Abrahim failed to fix issues in the apartment structurally with the outdoor patio and staircase leading to the upstairs apartments, as well as, deficiencies with the water heater, electrical and smoke detectors.

Holiwell and his girlfriend Tierra Sattlefield, who is also the mother of his son, Riley Holiwell, 1, are some of the handful of remaining tenants being court ordered to be removed from Abrahim’s former property on Biggs Drive.

“Now, this is the second time I’m being told to leave, and I wasn’t even the person who did anything wrong,” Holiwell said. “I want people to know this can happen to anyone, not just people doing bad things.”

According to court documents provided by Holiwell, he is listed as one of the tenants of 308 Biggs, Apt. D to be ordered to vacate, but on the original Certificate of Occupancy stamped Aug. 27, 2015 by the Village of Shiloh he is not listed as one of the three tenants. Sattlefield, 24, her daughter Nyomi Johnson, 5, and the couple’s son Riley are the occupant names.

During the court proceedings on Feb. 18, Holiwell said First County Bank representatives tried to have all tenants, including Abrahim to vacate by Feb. 28, but court pushed that date back to March 15.

“I was staying there, and (legally) Nyomi isn’t mine, but I treat her like she is and care for her mom and both kids still,” Holiwell said Tuesday. “The court gave us until March 16, but we ended up finding a four-bedroom house in Cahokia, and we moved in March 14 because the people from the bank and Abrahim were (harassing) us. They wanted us out so bad, they kept having our water turned off, and Hassan even came by and told me not to clean up the place, and when I asked him to turn the water back on again so I could wash my kids’ clothes ‘cause he had it rigged, he gave me $10 and told me not to worry about cleaning up the place.”

Holiwell said the new owners renovating the properties were tearing fencing and structural parts of the building well before the court ordered vacate day, which caused him to not have a parking spot.

“We are doing better now, but I still have to replace my kids’ beds and some other furniture that we didn’t get moved out on March 14, and we were told we couldn’t be let in the next day even though I was told by the court I had until March 16,” Holiwell said.

In February, Holiwell told the Progress that he’s lost a total of about $2,500 “in this whole mess,” but that he’ll be all right because he’s a full time security guard.

This story was originally published March 25, 2016 at 8:56 AM with the headline "Former Shiloh landlord awaits sentencing."