'A nightmare.' Veterans, residents of Liberty Lodge in Sandwich allege fraud, neglect
Editor's note: This story was corrected on Sept. 22, 2023, to note that the town of Sandwich issued three electrical permits after the April 2021 property purchase.
SANDWICH ― John LeSanto, a U. S. Air Force veteran who lives in a one-room apartment at Liberty Lodge, finds it so difficult to move in and out of his narrow doorway in his wheelchair that he rarely leaves.
"I’d love to get outside with some of the others. I think to myself, 'I’d die for that,'" said LeSanto, who had his leg amputated in June 2021 due to an illness. "But I don't go anywhere. It's like my heart was taken out."
LeSanto pays $1,500 a month to live in one of the 18 units at the former Country Acres Motel at 187 Route 6A. The rent includes utilities. He is one of a handful of residents at the 8.17-acre property who spoke to the Times recently about the former motel's declining conditions, and the treatment of residents, who are mostly veterans.
Carol Eklund, property manager at the motel, has been providing housing for veterans at the motel since property owner Mustapha Akkawi bought the property, Eklund said. Akkawi bought the property for $973,050 on April 30, 2021, according to town records. Heyer Real Estate Trust was the previous owner and ran the property as a motel, according to the town.
Akkawi owns Hannoush jewelers in Falmouth and Hyannis, according to state records, and bought the motel as a limited liability company at Eklund's request, she said. At the time of the motel's purchase, Eklund said her vision was to create veterans housing.
"We weren't looking to make money," Eklund said in a phone interview. "We just wanted to help the veterans."
On Sunday, Eklund hand-delivered letters to residents, informing them that they will need to vacate their units by Sept. 1.
"The property is to be used only as a motel at this time and no stay can exceed 30 days. We are sorry for this turn of events," reads a portion of the letter, provided to the Times by Liberty Lodge resident Meghan Pouliot.
Will veterans need to leave their units within 30 days?
Brendan Brides, the town building commissioner, said he met with Eklund on June 8 to discuss ongoing concerns and complaints the town received about Liberty Lodge. During that conversation, Brides said he told Eklund the continued use of the motel for non-transient residents violates the state building code and town protective zoning bylaws.
Eklund told the Times she was confused about the zoning rules for transitional housing, which is why she never applied to change its use.
"I was wrong. That was my mistake," said Eklund.To comply with town regulations, the complex must install a fire protection sprinkler system, according to Brides. Estimating the cost at about $200,000, Eklund said she can't afford it. Akkawi, she said, has already invested roughly $300,000 into the property.
"I don’t know where these people are going to go and I feel bad for them because many of them need it badly," she said, of housing in general. "But I’m 70 years old. I have my own problems at this point."
Akkawi didn't return requests from the Times for comment. A Times reporter called his cellphone, texted and called both places of business on the Cape.
Brides said Eklund hasn't informed the town that she is shuttering Liberty Lodge. If that's her intent, he said he will work with local veterans organizations to re-house each Liberty Lodge resident.
“We are not going to create a homeless situation for all of these people," he said. "It’s against everything we stand for as a town and as human beings."
Was Liberty Lodge supposed to be a nonprofit?
Pouliot's mother, who didn't wish to be named, is a gold star wife and has lived in a small cottage on the property since April 2021. Pouliot's immediate family has also lived on the property for portions of time, and currently pays $2,400 to occupy two one-room units.
Initially, said Pouliot, she thought Liberty Lodge would be established as a nonprofit. A month ago, she found out that it's a for-profit corporation.
"She's been misrepresenting Liberty Lodge as a veterans charity and she's been accepting monetary donations," said Pouliot. Eklund denies accepting monetary donations, but Pouliot forwarded messages to the Times that show Eklund referring to two monetary donations — one for $50 and another for $75.
In addition, Pouliot said, Eklund never informed residents that the property is zoned as a motel.
"Ethically and morally, this has caused great harm because these veterans think they can stay here forever," said Pouliot.
A rotting hole in the floor
Howard Goldman, a U.S. Navy veteran, pays $1,200 for a one-room, 300-square-foot apartment. As he spoke to the Times, he pointed to uncovered light switches, and makeshift wood patches that cover a series of holes across the unit's back wall. From outside his unit, it's possible to see through some of the patches, into his apartment.
Goldman called Eklund a slumlord and said the property is slowly falling apart.
"Liberty Lodge is a façade," said Goldman. "She (Eklund) goes into the community and acts like this is a great thing for veterans. But if anyone donates their time or money — it goes into making open units more rentable — not to benefit the people that live here already."
Instead of fixing things, Pouliot said Eklund often takes shortcuts. In one particular unit, there was water damage to a floor, which left a rotting hole.
"She told me to cover it (the hole) with a bed," said Pouliot.
Eklund eventually hired a handyman to fix it, but didn't pull a permit, Pouliot said. After Pouliot went to Brides with pictures of the hole, he informed Eklund that the commercial permit would cost $500. Since the work had already begun, the town charged double, Eklund said.
"From what I saw, it’s a repair, it’s not construction," she said. "But when he said I had to pull the permit, I said, 'OK.'"
Buying a hotplate rather then waiting for a stove
Bill Frizzell, a U.S. Air Force veteran moved to Liberty Lodge Dec. 1, 2021, along with Willie Williams, a former member of the U.S. Coast Guard.
"I wanted to wait to move in until the stoves were working," Frizzell said. But Eklund told a veterans affairs advocate for Frizzell "that if we didn't take the units, she was going to give them to someone else," said Frizzell.
Frizzell bought a hotplate to cook on instead. Soon after, Housing Assistance Corporation, based in Hyannis, gave Frizzell a housing voucher, he said. But when it conducted an inspection, Frizzell's voucher was suspended because the stove didn't work.
Frizzell and Williams asked Eklund when the stoves would be fixed. Eklund, at the time, said Eversource hadn't yet finished electrical work that would supply power to the stoves.
"A couple of weeks later, I asked again. And she said, 'They’ll be on when they're on and that’s the end of it,'” said Frizzell. "She was very nasty about it," said Williams. "It was a nightmare."
Frizzell and Williams went to town hall and asked for all the permits and inspections for the property since Eklund took over. No electricians had pulled permits, said Frizzell.
"That started the firestorm," he said.
The pair also went to the Cape and Islands Veterans Outreach Center, a Veterans Affairs office, and Housing Assistance Corporation, he said. "We notified everybody. A lot of people turned a blind eye."
Despite resident complaints about the permit timing, records show the town of Sandwich issued three electrical permits after the April 2021 property purchase.
After the owners purchased the property in April of 2021, the town of Sandwich issued electrical permits for the property in June of 2021 and in January and March of 2022, according to town records emailed to the Times.
Frizzell said he stopped paying rent because of the non-working stove, and because of a lack of communication with Eklund about costs associated with the unit. He was served with two 30-day notices to quit, the latest in March. When the electrical issues were worked out, and Housing Assistance Corporation gave his unit an inspection in March, Frizzell's voucher was approved and his back rent resolved, he said.Williams was also served an eviction notice on his birthday, he said. He moved April 1, and now lives in Centerville.
Cash only at Liberty Lodge
When Goldman first arrived at Liberty Lodge, he was told that rent could only be paid in cash. When he asked for rental receipts, he said Eklund refused.
"If I need to move, I have no proof that I ever lived here. I had the hardest time getting a bank account because I couldn't prove residency," he said.
During a snowstorm in 2022, Williams went to the bank for cash to pay his rent. When he arrived home, his car became stuck in the snow because the motel's driveway hadn't been plowed. He said Eklund knocked on his door at 10 that night and told him to move the car. When Williams tried to explain that his car was stuck, he said Eklund became verbally abusive and aggressive.
"She constantly threatens our housing. We are homeless, old, vets who just want to be at peace," he said.
LeSanto has also had trouble gaining access to cash and said his daughter goes to the bank and brings cash to Eklund.
"It just adds another layer of difficulty for me," he said.
Eklund admits she only accepts cash. Most of the residents, she said, have a hard time paying rent.
"My phone is full of excuses starting two or three days before the first until the 21st of every month," she said. "If we took checks they’d be bouncing all over creation."
Lodge resident dies, but room remained in disarray
One of the most egregious turn of events, Frizzell said, was when his next-door neighbor died on June 11 in his unit. Shortly after his death, his family collected some of his belongings, but the room remained in a state of disarray. Food rotted on the countertops, and clothes, and household items remained in heaps. Blood was also present on the sheets and comforters, he said.
Eklund, though, said it was traumatic for her to enter the room following the tenant's death. Her son Chris, she said, died in a similar fashion in April 2021.
"I still can't go in there," she said through tears. "And they know that. I’ve told them that."
The room was cleaned Thursday, after the Times visited the property.
All of the complaints are unwarranted, said Eklund. If the residents are unhappy, she said they can leave at any time.
"If they don't want the help, that's OK. Unfortunately, there are people in here that do," she said. "And that's who's getting hurt.
At times, Liberty Lodge was a lifeline, said Goldman. But as the abuse, and what he called Eklund's desperation has increased, veteran housing and safety have become compromised.
"At the beginning, I think she had an intention to help us," said Goldman. "But my worst fears are coming true. We are all going to be homeless and she's going to get away with setting us up for failure."
Rachael Devaney writes about community and culture. Reach her at rdevaney@capecodonline.com. Follow her on Twitter: @RachaelDevaney.
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This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: Veterans at Liberty Lodge in Sandwich say housing, safety at risk
