By Alyson Crean acrean@keynoter.com

Magistrate orders fines of $40,000

Transient-rental violations will cost an Old Town Key West property owner more than $40,000 in fines, according to findings released from Special Magistrate Jeff Overby.

In October 2006, William and Britt Lemon, who own property at 413 Francis St., were found in violation of transient-rental regulations, which mandate property in the Historic District, where the Lemons' property is located, cannot be rented out for less than 30 days.

Overby's findings, released Monday, conclude the pair did not have proper licenses.

Key West's former chief code enforcement officer, Jim Young, was involved in a sting operation that led to the settlement and testified in court.

Young was fired in October by then-City Manager Julio Avael shortly after the sting operation. He has a wrongful-termination lawsuit pending against the city.

Young, posing under the alias of Pam Thomas with an address in Margate in Broward County, sent the Lemons a check for $2,650, which included the $2,000 rent, $150 cleaning fee and $500 deposit. The rental period was to be Oct. 1 to 8, which was written on that check.

According to Young, the Lemons typically ask for some $6,000 for a monthly rate, except when the department called and ask for a weekly rate.

“It was a sham contract,” Young said.

Code Officer Randy Pekarik stayed at the unit for eight days with his wife before asking William Lemon about where to leave his keys and how to go about checking out.

Pekarik's wife, who was acting as Pam Thomas, was told by the defendant, upon leaving, “other renters were arriving soon,” according to Mrs. Pekarik's sworn testimony.

“This testimony is diametrically opposed to that given by Mr. Lemon,” the finding reads.

Attorney David Paul Horan, who's representing the Lemons along with Joseph Spataro, said no one else actually stayed in the unit for the rest of that month and that the Lemons wouldn't have allowed it.

According to the findings, the defendant admitted to keeping “no detailed records of the rentals, the security deposits and the name of the vendors that cleaned or repaired the subject property,” as well as no receipts, cancelled checks or records of renters and their addresses.

The defendant also admitted to not paying sales tax for rental periods to the Florida Department of Revenue.

Overby found William Lemon's testimony “to be unreliable and not credible.”

“We will move for a rehearing,” Horan said. “Legally, [the Pekariks] had signed a lease that allows them to stay there for an entire month.”

Horan said that according to the transient-rental ordinance, even though the code officers signed a lease for a month, they are not required to stay there that entire month.

While discussing code cases in general and not this specific one, Overby said the cases he sees are those in which the defendants have already talked with the code department and either refused to come into compliance or denied wrongdoing.

“The city's goal has always been compliance,” Overby said.

Overby is also chief assistant state attorney. Horan argues that Overby was playing “prosecutor” in the Lemon case.

Young said Code Enforcement's intent when he worked for the city was to deter people from breaking code, not make the city money.

He says since his firing, the department has been lackluster in investigating big cases like the Lemons'.

“Since my termination, it's very obvious that the new code compliance is not being as enthusiastic about enforcing the code ordinances, especially the transient-rental ordinances,” Young said.