2024-01-12 13:45:00
JACKSON, Miss. (WLBT) – One year following a municipal judge ordered the owner of a dilapidated Jackson hotel to fix the property or tear it down, that same owner now has a warrant out for his arrest following skipping out on a Tuesday court hearing.
Municipal Judge Jeff Reynolds held the hearing to confront and sentence Hotel O owner Noah Muthana to jail for failing to follow the court’s orders to demolish his property.
Reynolds’ order accused Muthana of gaming the legal system with “meritless appeals.”
The judge had ordered Muthana to tear the hotel down back in March of last year, giving him 60 days to do so.
That came and went.
After Tuesday’s hearing, Reynolds had an arrest warrant issued for Muthana to serve 90 days in jail.
The hotel — which has been cited for numerous code violations and condemned — is still occupied by nearly a dozen people, including Charles Coleman.
Coleman once worked for Muthana, and said he now serves as a caretaker for the property, turning it into a makeshift shelter to help those in need.
“I go to the dollar store, and I buy lights or fixtures for a dollar. The batteries last three or four days. I put them up in the hallways,” Coleman said, acknowledging the building doesn’t have electricity. “If I have a newcomer, I simply clean the room out for them. I have no vacuum cleaner. So I take a broom, and I get it done for him. I want them to be comfortable.”
Coleman said he also patrols the property and keeps the parking lot free of clutter, but he can only do so much.
Jackson code enforcement officers began investigating conditions at the Hotel O property in 2021, finding six violations once morest Muthana, including structural weaknesses, unsafe electrical wiring and prevalent mold throughout the property.
Reynolds had it condemned in August.
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