Poisoned home; landlord claims 'vandalism'

MILWAUKEE - A Milwaukee landlord accuses a former tenant of trashing his rental property. It's a claim he made after two young children were poisoned in his house.

When Christopher Knight bought the house at 3046 N. 2nd Street in July 2021, he now admits it had problems. What condition it was in when he rented it out two months later is a point of contention. But it's clear how the city found it 11 months later.

In September 2022, the Milwaukee Department of Neighborhood Services declared the home "unfit for human habitation." Two months after that, Knight collected a $34,000 check from his insurance company. What happened next prompted his former tenant to call the FOX6 Investigators.

Knight lives in Elm Grove. He's also the registered agent and sole member of a property management company called East Town Management, also based in Elm Grove. Over the last three years, Knight and East Town Management have owned dozens of rental properties in some of Milwaukee's poorest neighborhoods. Those properties have racked up 66 code violations and 173 enforcement actions. 

Knight's small rental empire is now on the verge of bankruptcy, as Knight and the business were named as defendants in 12 civil lawsuits and a pair of small claims actions last year alone. One of those lawsuits was filed by Tom Brittian.

"He never would return my phone calls," said Brittain, who owns Eagle Movers.

Brittain says Knight hired his company to move his personal belongings into the Elm Grove house in 2022, but never paid the $4,140 moving bill. Brittain says Knight gave his foreman an invalid credit card, then failed to return more than 30 phone calls. 

"He's probably come on some hard times and he’s decided to solve his problems by taking advantage of people and businesses," Brittain said.

If anyone knows about hard times, it's Michailah Belle.

"We literally had nowhere to go," Belle said.

Belle is a mother of eleven children, ages 5 to 25, plus she's grandmother to three more. In September 2021, Belle said the place she was renting was sold. She had two days to find another place that would take her large family. Homeless shelters would not accept older boys, so she feared they would all end up on the street. Instead, a county caseworker found the house on 2nd Street was available for a quick move-in. Belle says there were problems from the start.

"The electricity would always pop in, pop off, pop in, pop off," Belle said.

Belle's brother, Michaiah, helped them move in.

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"It was like holes in the floor," he said. "It took like over two months just to fix the stuff in the kitchen that needed to be fixed."

An inspection report provided to FOX6 by the House Authority of the City of Milwaukee (HACM) listed the unit in "average" condition.

But Belle says she never saw anyone do a walk-through, including the person who gave her the key.

"She turned on the light," Belle recalled, "said ‘OK,’ passed it. And that’s it."

HACM has no record of who did the inspection. There's no name on the form. There is a looping signature with no comprehensible letters. HACM reviewed its files, but was unable to determine who did the inspection.

"For them not to be doing their jobs?" Belle said. "They should be ashamed of themselves!"

But Belle was in no position to complain. Thanks to a rent assistance agreement with HACM, Belle paid just $39 per month. The Housing Authority covered the rest.

"Just being in a house was a blessing even though it was messed up," Belle said.

The real trouble came nearly a year later when two of Belle's grandchildren were diagnosed with lead poisoning. The youngest, a 1-year-old, tested nearly three times the level considered by the EPA to be lead poisoning. The older child, a 3-year-old, tested more than nine times the limit.

"That messes up them cognitively and everything," Belle said.

The elevated blood lead levels triggered the city to do a lead paint inspection and risk assessment.

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"It's so critical to protect these children as quickly as we can," said Tyler Weber, Commissioner of Environmental Health for the City of Milwaukee Health Department.

Weber said  lead paint is the number one cause of lead poisoning in the city. And lead paint is especially dangerous when it's cracked or chipping.

"Lead paint turns into dust and lead dust is incredibly toxic," Weber said.

When health inspectors visited 3046 N. 2nd Street, they found cracked and chipping paint everywhere they looked.

"Interior, exterior, multiple rooms, multiple floors," Weber said.

Of nearly 300 samples collected, more than 200 tested positive. Some as high as 28 times the EPA standard.

"Lead dust around every corner," Weber said.

But that's not all. City building inspectors found an infestation of pests, along with structural failures, defective plumbing, defective sewage, defective heating and defective electrical systems.

"That is generally more than a tenant is going to disrupt in a single year," Weber said.

The city declared the home "unfit for human habitation," and ordered Belle and her family to evacuate.

"They placarded the house," Belle recalled. "Shut the house down."

But it's what happened next that prompted her call to the FOX6 Investigators.

"I thought it was a joke," Belle said. "I thought it was a scam."

Four months after the emergency evacuation, Belle got a letter from a collection agency working on behalf of American Family Insurance. It said she owed nearly $40,000. 

"I'm living off a tiny monthly income," Belle said.

But the letters kept coming.

They said the debt was because of a loss sustained by Knight's company, East Town Management. Knight had accused Belle of vandalism. All told, he estimated the damage to be more than $46-thousand.

"I guess I’m like King Kong and Godzilla," Belle said.

American Family Insurance paid Knight more than $34,000, then sent collectors after Belle to recoup the loss.

"Were you ever taken to court over this?" Polcyn asked.

"Nope," Belle replied. "I was not."

When Belle asked for documentation, the Wilbur agency sent handwritten repair estimates for painting, drywall, windows, sinks, faucets, a new toilet, water heater and more. They also sent notes claiming someone stole wiring and an electrical panel from the house.

"Why didn’t we ever go to court?" Belle wondered aloud. "Why didn’t I ever go to jail? Because that's bad!"

Belle moved out by Sept. 30, 2022. Knight did not visit the property until November. He did not report any vandalism to police until another two months after that -- January 2023. By then, he told an officer there was no damage left to see, it had all been fixed. The officer who took the report indicated Knight was making the delayed report to satisfy a request from his insurance agent.

Knight told police he had photos of the damage and would send them later. FOX6 Investigators requested those photos, but Milwaukee Police denied the request, saying it's still an "open investigation." Police say they have not identified any suspects in the alleged vandalism.

In fact, police have yet to determine whether vandalism occurred at all.

In a phone call with FOX6 News in September 2023, Knight said the conditions that prompted the city to placard the house – including defective heating, plumbing, sewage and electrical systems – were all Belle's fault.

"Those things to me don’t sound like vandalism," said FOX6 Investigator Bryan Polcyn.

"Four systems failing in one year," Knight replied, "that doesn't happen on its own." 

Knight said tenants who don't pay their own rent are more likely to take poor care of their properties. 

"Michailah is not a good tenant," Knight said.

To support his claim, Knight sent FOX6 Investigators five pictures of the property, including two bathroom pictures labeled "before" and "after." The "before" photo shows a clean bathroom with a tiled shower, toilet and sink. The "after" photo showed a bathroom in disrepair, with a large hole in the wall, pipes ripped out and a sink turned upside down. Knight said the photographs "speak for themselves."

However, a closer look at the images shows shower tiles in the photos are a different shape. The floor is a different color. The shower head appears to be in a different location.

When FOX6 Investigators asked Knight to explain, he stopped responding.

"So he pretty much just got a whole brand new house off of committing fraud," Belle said.

Knight has never been charged with, or convicted of, fraud. But Belle is not the first to accuse him of false representation.

"Chris Knight is a schmuck!" said Brittain.

Remember him? When Knight filed for bankruptcy protection in December, Brittain filed a dispute. He accused Knight of giving his crew an invalid credit card, then engaging in a "pattern of conduct involving false pretense" to "evade payment." 

"If he was an honest man, he would’ve at least called me back and said I have a different credit card. Let’s use that one," Brittain said.

Both Knight and East Town Management are facing a cascade of lawsuits and judgments for breach of contract, theft, and foreclosure. The potential total debts exceed $1.5 million. One plaintiff says Knight hasn't made a payment on more than a dozen rental properties since at least November 2022. He filed his $46,000 vandalism insurance claim in November 2022.

The way Belle sees it, "That's not a coincidence."

American Family Insurance says it "thoroughly investigated" the vandalism claim before issuing payment to Knight.

However, after we started asking questions, the company dropped its collection effort against Belle.

"They took it off, so that's good," Belle said.

Now, Belle can focus on the health of her grandchildren. And also her two nieces. Turns out, they got lead poisoning, too, while living in a different house owned by Christopher Knight.

"How many people is he doing this [expletive] to and getting away with it?" Belle asked.

Knight filed for Chapter 13 bankruptcy protection in December, but failed to file the required financial documents, so the case was dismissed. His attorney told a judge in earlier this month that he now plans to file for Chapter 11 instead.

FOX6 Investigators did speak to Knight on the phone back in September. Since then, he has declined to comment.