$400,000 Settles Bias Case

The owners of two apartment complexes in Riverside have agreed to pay penalties of nearly $400,000 to settle allegations that they discriminated against Latinos and African Americans and employed a manager who demanded sexual favors from female tenants, officials said.

The settlement is the result of a lawsuit filed by the U.S. Department of Justice in April 2001 against the owners and manager of the 31-unit Rio Palmas and the 70-unit Las Casitas complexes.

The lawsuit accused the owners, William David Wingo and Karen Wingo Cipriano, and their manager, Vincent Stancyk, of violating the Fair Housing Act by discriminating against minorities and women.

“This was an egregious case that required strong remedies,” Assistant U.S. Atty. Gen. Ralph F. Boyd Jr. said in a prepared statement.

“This agreement makes clear that individuals who engage in unlawful housing discrimination, and the people who employ them, will be held accountable,” he said.

Wingo, Cipriano and their attorneys could not be reached for comment Thursday afternoon. Wingo and Cipriano no longer own the Rio Palmas complex, and no one answered the telephone at the front office of the Las Casitas complex.

Stancyk’s attorney, Robert Walker of Riverside, said his client “categorically denies” the allegations. Walker suggested that the residents who prompted the lawsuit had been motivated by the prospect of winning money. He said the case had been settled to avoid the “cost and uncertainty of trial.”

“When you have the might of the United States focusing in on you, settlement sometimes seems reasonable,” Walker said. “He is trying to move on. He was severely wounded by these allegations, and he is trying to live his life in a positive way.”

According to the lawsuit, federal investigators determined that Stancyk had subjected women at the apartment complexes to repeated sexual harassment. At times, officials allege, he gave female tenants privileges only after they performed sexual acts. Wingo and Cipriano knew, or should have known, about the harassment and did nothing, officials allege.

Justice Department investigators also found that they had repeatedly discriminated against Latino and African American tenants.

According to the complaint, Wingo, Cipriano and Stancyk had refused to rent to minority group members, had evicted them and thrown away their rental applications, had used racial epithets, and would not allow minority guests.

Under the agreement, Wingo and Cipriano will pay $355,000 to people who were discriminated against and a $35,000 civil penalty to the federal government.

Stancyk is barred from working in the rental real estate business.