COLUMBIA, S.C. — Earlier this week, the City of Columbia dropped more than 80 charges against the manager of the Colony Apartments complex on West Beltline Boulevard for an incident that occurred in December 2022.
The district manager for The Monroe Group, Ebony Nelson, was served with 83 criminal citations after residents at the apartments said they went without heat or running water for days around Christmas.
Columbia officials say each violation came with a possible $500 fine or 30 days in jail. The city has dropped all charges against Nelson but has issued 56 new citations against Colony Apartments for code violations.
Nelson's attorney, Chris Kenney, released a statement: Ebony Nelson was wrongly accused by the City of Columbia. This morning the court was scheduled to hear her motion to compel the city to turn over its evidence that she was responsible for the violations. Instead of turning over that evidence, the city dismissed its charges. While we appreciate the prosecutor's office finally doing the right thing, these charges never should have been filed in the first place.
The new citations, written on June 29, named "C-H-C Colony Apartments, LLC" as the violator. The citations range from missing or non-working fire extinguishers and carbon monoxide detectors to a gas leak/ignition hazard on gas stoves.
A hearing regarding these latest charges is scheduled for September.