Williamsburg complex taking action after renter tells 10 On Your Side she was sickened by roaches

WILLIAMSBURG, Va. (WAVY) — Within hours after 10 On Your Side visited a woman’s apartment and her management office regarding rampant roaches, notices were posted on affected units that they will be fumigated next week, according to the resident, Jennifer Johnson.

“Until you guys showed, I hadn’t seen a whole lot,” she said in a follow-up interview Friday afternoon.

Johnson says she had complained to management both at her complex, Regency at Longhill in Williamsburg, and their corporate office in Charlottesville. 10 On Your Side went to the local office off Longhill Road around noon Thursday. A staff member would not comment, but Johnson says a few hours later, notices were posted on doors of affected units that pest control will take action Nov. 10.

Amanda Jones, regional manager for Seminole Trail Management LLC, said Sunday the company made multiple attempts to remedy the problem since Johnson’s move in date in mid-August, but did not get the cooperation from Johnson that was required to treat her unit properly.

Jones confirmed that the company’s exterminator will inspect the units within Johnson’s building this week and will treat them as needed.

Johnson became sick from having to deal with the roaches in her apartment at Regency at Longhill, and her doctor described allergic symptoms from roach dust and roach waste: abdominal pains, sore throat and coughing. Roaches were scurrying across her kitchen, into her toaster oven and onto her bed.

We spoke with her neighbor, Sister Mary Nwachukwu, who lives next door. She said she has had major problems with roaches too.

Johnson is encouraged by management’s decision to get a professional to battle the bugs.

She began collecting and bagging the bugs after seeing 28 in a single day. In addition to getting sick, she says she was freaked out by the sense of insecurity in her own home. She hasn’t spent a night there in nearly two weeks.

Johnson is glad to see that management is doing something for the residents, although she plans to leave for her own health reasons.

Johnson says she will use our coverage combined with her doctor’s letter when she goes to court to try to recover $9,000 in rent, lost income and medical bills.