Local Owner Indicted On Lead Paint Violations

WASHINGTON, DC-A local landlord has become the first person ever to face criminal prosecution for allegedly violating laws requiring apartment building owners to warn tenants of lead-based paint hazards. David D. Nuyen, of Silver Spring, MD was indicted by a federal grand jury Wednesday on 15 counts of obstructing justice and submitting false documents to federal officials.

Repeated efforts to reach Nuyen, who owns and manages 15 low-income rental properties here and in Maryland, for comment were unsuccessful and he did not return phone messages. According to reports, he denies any wrongdoing. An indictment is not a finding of guilt, but a finding by a grand jury that enough evidence exists to bring a case to trial.

According to the indictment, in September 1998 the Department of Housing and Urban Development contacted Nuyen as part of a federal push to enforce the provision of the Lead Hazard Reduction Act that requires landlords to tell tenants, before they sign a lease, about the hazards of lead-based paint. Under the law, landlords must give tenants an EPA pamphlet detailing lead hazards and ways to minimize the dangers to children. The law also requires landlords to document their compliance with the law by keeping tenants’ signatures on file.