Indio family deals with maggots in apartment, urges help from landlords

Over the weekend, Patricia Guillen says she and her three kids lived in disgusting conditions at the Cielo Vista Apartments in Indio when they had to deal with creepy, crawling maggots.

“I saw something white. It was moving!” she said.

What started as a water leak, led to a punched-out hole in the ceiling by a maintenance crew on Friday and left her carpets covered with maggots after the crew placed a piece of the ceiling on the her dining room floor, she said.

“I expected them to replace that. I expected them to check. There’s something up there, probably a dead rat or something,” said Guillen.

Guillen said she contacted the apartment manager who agreed to send an exterminator Monday, but no one came, similar to the mandatory inspections that she said rarely happen. Guillen, appalled that the maggots likely came from the ceiling, vacuumed up the pests.

While she waits for pest control, she hopes the apartment management will hear her cry for help.

“We don’t have a lot of money … but I don’t want to live like that with my kids,” she said.

Guillen admitted she was embarrassed to have maggots in her home, but fed up with negligence.

“Just like they’re good at collecting our money. I expect them to get on top of maintenance,” she said.

We stopped by the leasing office and called and left a message for the apartment manager, but received no response.