By Laura Crimaldi and Marie Szaniszlo
The Boston Herald
MALDEN, Mass. — Heartless looters stole wedding rings, electronics, cash and other belongings in a double whammy for more than a dozen Malden residents left homeless by Saturday’s six-alarm blaze.
“My wedding ring meant a lot to me,” said Li Mo, 34, whose engagement ring, cell phone, iTouch, Nintendo and digital cameras also were ripped off from her Pleasant Street apartment. “Even if we buy a new one, it won’t be the same.”
The brazen thefts were discovered Monday by at least 15 of the tenants who were allowed to return briefly to Mystic Side Estates to retrieve their belongings, police Capt. Tom Swanson said.
“It’s despicable that somebody would take advantage of people who are vulnerable like that,” said Malden Mayor Richard Howard.
“It’s a double whammy,” said Valerie Navy-Daniels, a spokeswoman for the Red Cross, which is helping at least 79 people left homeless by the blaze. “Here you are thinking you might be able to go back and save at least a few of your things, and instead you feel another violation.”
The thieves targeted both sides of the apartment complex at 505-507 Pleasant St., Swanson said, so that even the tenants who lived in the half that was largely undamaged were hit.
Mo, her husband, Jinbo Fan and another tenant, Jung Eun Ko, faulted the building’s owner and manager for failing to ensure that the property was secure.
“I saw that the road was still blocked today,” said Ko, whose cash was stolen out of the wallet she’d left behind, “but people can still walk right in.’'
Howard said the owner is responsible for securing the building — a message that was reiterated, he said, after the thefts.
The apartment building is owned by 503-509 Pleasant Street, LLC, which is managed by Philip J. Privitera, according to state land and corporation records. Privitera did not return repeated calls.
Demolition and construction crews have had access to the building, Swanson and assistant fire chief JackColangeli said. Colangeli added that many doors inside the building were damaged or removed during the fire operation.
“Unfortunately, there have been many people in and out of the building, including demolition people and construction crews,” Swanson said. “We probably won’t be able to determine who may have taken this stuff.”
All the families will be displaced for one to two months, Howard said.
Authorities announced yesterday that the cause of the fire, which started in the ceiling of a third-floor apartment and caused an estimated $6 million in damage, was electrical. “If this building had been sprinklered, this fire would have had a completely different outcome,” Malden fire Chief Michael Murphy said.
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