Pasadena Police: No Report of Death Threats Against Trilliant Officials

A spokesperson with the Pasadena Police Department told Pasadena Now that the department is not currently investigating threats against Trilliant Property Management.

In an email on Friday, Trilliant CEO Erik Rivera said that employees at the Salem, Oregon based company have received written threats of violence, including shooting employees with a shotgun. Rivera said speculation pointed to one of the Pasadena tenants living on Madison Avenue displaced by a Dec. 19 fire.

“It does not look like there have been any reports of such threats made to the PD,” said Pasadena Police Spokesman William Grisafe.

The tenants, who have not been allowed back in their apartments to retrieve their items since the fire, have been critical of the company’s handling of the situation. In one instance, tenants told Pasadena Now, they were not receiving regular communications from the company despite claims by Trilliant.

Trilliant claims 18 of the units are contaminated with asbestos. Tenants said they have received no proof of asbestos in their units.

“My apartment they said was contaminated,” said Joshua Blumenkopf. “Again, there’s been no proof of that. I tried speaking with the company they hired, but they said ‘we can’t speak with you about that.’ This is kind of ridiculous.”

The 18 units will require a Procedure 5 clean up. Under Procedure 5, the Environmental Protection Agency mandates a specialized clean-up process must be completed by a licensed abatement company.

The tenants could lose a great deal of their personal belongings including papers, clothes, beds, and any items that cannot be wiped down. It also includes computers, appliances, TV’s, and any electronic items that have a fan.

Last month, officials with Trilliant called a meeting with the tenants at Pasadena City Hall. Under the rules of that meeting, tenants would have been forced to submit their cell phones and speak for less than two minutes. Trilliant officials also said they would not make copies of the meeting transcript available to tenants, and threatened to have them physically removed if they disrupted the meeting.

City officials objected to the rules and the meeting was canceled.

“Even under these circumstances, and the continued false information a select few tenants continue to feed to the media and city council, Trilliant will continue to move forward, as it is our ultimate goal to have our tenants back in their homes as soon as possible,” Rivera said in his email.