In the Spotlight is ongoing, in-depth coverage from the Belleville News-Democrat on issues that matter most to metro-east residents.
Belleville police and Ward 1 residents agreed on two major points at a recent public meeting: Transient people are terrorizing neighborhoods by occupying derelict homes and committing crimes, and a property on North Church Street is a big part of the problem.
About 40 residents gathered at police headquarters, where they reported trespassing in yards, open use of illegal drugs, overdoses, fighting, gunshots and car and garage break-ins.
“It’s a blight on the community, and it needs to be dealt with quickly before something really bad happens,” said Jason Koderhandt, whose family has lived in the neighborhood for decades.
Police and other city officials acknowledged the problem and explained what they’ve been doing to address it, including the demolition of homes deemed to be health hazards.
Police Chief Matt Eiskant promised to create a special detail unit to patrol Ward 1 neighborhoods.
“I don’t want their property values going down because there’s seven or eight drug addicts living in a house,” he said Friday. “We’ve had some people who have moved because of it.
“My heart’s in this city, and I want people to have a great quality of life, and if there’s more that I can do, I’m going to do it.”
But Eiskant and other officials warned residents at the meeting that they’re limited in what they can do because of state laws that protect property owners, homeless people and those who commit lower-level crimes.
They described a cycle in which housing-department employees board up condemned homes, only to have squatters pry off the plywood and get back in, while some just move to different vacant properties.
Eiskant noted that the new SAFE-T Act (Safety, Accountability, Fairness and Equity-Today Act), which eliminated cash bail, prohibits the court system from keeping many defendants in jail.
“They’re out the next day,” he said.
Eiskant told residents that some of the transients are mentally ill, but most are addicted to methamphetamine and refuse to accept help or go to shelters, which don’t allow drugs. He used the term “voluntarily homeless,” drawing a distinction between them and people “down on their luck” after losing jobs or getting sick.
139 calls to police
Vagrancy and crime have worsened in the past several years around North Charles Street and North Church Street, near the intersection of Lebanon Avenue and Sherman Street, according to Koderhandt, who helped organize Wednesday night’s meeting.
“I’ve lived here my whole life,” he said afterward. “Everybody knows everybody, and we’re not giving up on this neighborhood. We’ll do everything we can to support the police, even at our own risk.”
Neighbors blame many problems on 1649 N. Church St., a small green-sided home with black shutters. They say disheveled, intoxicated and seemingly unrelated people go in and out regularly.
At the meeting, city officials distributed a fact sheet on the property, starting with its purchase by LaKia Mariconi on Oct. 7, 2022. She paid $99,500, St. Clair County records show.
“The first Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) report was on 11-1-22 for a subject removal,” the fact sheet stated. “From that time to the current date, there have been a total of 139 CAD calls to the property.”
Police have prepared 23 written reports related to property maintenance code violations, occupancy violations, two disorderly conduct charges and one charge each of criminal property management, armed robbery, aggravated assault and aggravated battery.
Calls increased after April 5, 2023, when a home at 1301 N. Church St. burned. The former owner was known to allow “the homeless, drug addicts and other criminals” to stay there, the fact sheet stated.
Steve Thouvenot, the city’s building commissioner, posted signs on Mariconi’s home on July 17, 2023, declaring it unfit for human occupancy after finding 10 code violations.
But apparently people continued to live in the home. Water was turned off on March 27, 2024, and later reconnected under a different name. Ameren Illinois disconnected power on May 1, 2024.
“(Residents) were later found to have removed the meter and bypassed the power at the property,” the fact sheet stated. “Ameren power came back out … and disconnected the power to the property at the pole.
“The street department has been to the property several times to clean up trash and haul away large items.”
Home boarded up
Eiskant announced at the meeting that police went to Mariconi’s home on Wednesday and got her permission to board up windows and doors to keep transients out. She can enter only during daytime hours to pick up items or make repairs.
After the meeting, a BND reporter went to the home about 8 p.m. Nico Beals, Mariconi’s boyfriend, was in the yard. He described her as a “kindhearted” woman who let too many people stay at the home.
“I don’t blame them,” Beals said when told that neighbors had complained at a public meeting. “I wouldn’t want that around me, either. I’m surprised it hasn’t happened sooner.”
About that time, Belleville police officers Jacob Leggett and Andrew Harmon pulled up in squad cars, responding to a report that someone was trying to break into the home. They told Beals he was no longer allowed on the property. He left on foot without incident.
When reached by phone, Mariconi described herself as a 44-year-old divorced mother of four grown children and a stepson, and a former Belleville West High School student who earned a GED at 27 before spending nine years in the U.S. Army and Army National Guard.
Mariconi said she suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder because “something bad happened to me in Korea.”
Mariconi said her recent problems began more than a year ago, when she went to a nearby liquor store, met a woman whose home had burned, prayed with her, invited her over for a drink, let her spend the night and eventually opened her doors to the woman’s friends.
“The (Veteran’s Administration) helped me when I was on drugs and things like that,” Mariconi said. “The V.A. helped me, so I was extending a hand. I felt the need to help, but the people I helped didn’t deserve my help. They were a bunch of con artists, and they used me.”
Mariconi estimates at least 15 people have stayed at the home in the past year and a half. She alleges that they stole her disability checks, started a fire that caused severe damage and otherwise trashed the property.
“I’m going to pray,” Mariconi said when asked about her next step. “I’m going to fix up my house. I have to be productive. I have to work toward my blessings. I can’t just sit on my butt.”
Working together
Other city officials who attended Wednesday night’s meeting were Belleville Mayor Patty Gregory; Ward 1 Aldermen Bryan Whitaker and Alderwoman Lillian Schneider; Sgt. Sam Parsons, who oversees code enforcement; and Scott Tyler, director of health, housing and building.
Gregory told residents that the large number of derelict homes in Belleville partly relates to the age of the city, which dates back more than 200 years. She noted that her administration has condemned and demolished dozens of buildings considered unsafe in recent years.
Gregory encouraged people to keep reporting crimes and suspicious activity to police and other city officials.
“We appreciate you being here and appreciate how you are working actively,” Gregory said. “We’ve got a lot of progress going on in the city, and we want to keep that progress going on, and you’re all a part of that.”
The cases of 1649 and 1301 N. Church St. are unusual because the homes were owner-occupied before being declared unfit for human occupancy. Most vagrancy problems involve vacant properties owned by out-of-state investors who let them deteriorate, according to Eiskant, who grew up in Belleville.
“They don’t care about our city,” he said.
Koderhandt noted that some transient people stay in tent camps in Belleville. He worked with police to help dismantle one across from his home, in a wooded area behind Ice Cream Haven, where he saw a couple shooting drugs into their stomachs in the parking lot in “broad daylight.”
One woman at Wednesday night’s meeting told Eiskant that residents are sometimes reluctant to call police because they seem “annoyed” by what may sound like trivial issues. Mike Mercurio, who owns four rental properties in Ward 1, made a similar complaint.
Eiskant assured them he would talk to his employees and make certain that never happens again.
Mercurio said it’s “ridiculous” to pay thousands of dollars in property taxes for homes in a neighborhood where transients damage property, steal lawnmowers, bikes and other items, roam streets aimlessly and sit on porches screaming and talking to themselves.
Schneider proposed holding another meeting in two months to see if the Ward 1 situation has improved. Whitaker said problems won’t be solved overnight, but city officials are determined.
“I thought the meeting was fantastic,” Koderhandt said. “The turnout was fantastic. The energy was fantastic. There was no arguing. Everybody agreed that we have a problem, and we’re going to do something about it. We’re behind the police 100%. The neighbors and police are working together.”
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