CHINO HILLS –Foreclosure proceedings have begun on the home that was being used as an illicit maternity hotel in an upscale neighborhood here last year until adverse publicity and legal action by the city forced its closure.
What was originally a seven bedroom and six-and-a-half bathroom 7,964-square-foot home at 15250 Woodglen Drive owned by Hai Yong Wu had been converted into a 17-bedroom maternity hotel operation at which wealthy pregnant women from China would stay during the final stages of their pregnancies and would then give birth at local hospitals so that, under the 14th Amendment, their children could claim U.S. citizenship.
In September 2012 the home’s septic system became overloaded, resulting in a sewage spill, leading to the activity at the home becoming publicly known. There ensued a local protest targeting Wu and his business partner, Yi Wang, and complaints to the city and the sheriff’s department.
In November, Chino Hills officials obtained a court order allowing them to carry out an inspection of the premises, during which they discovered the non-permitted alterations to the home’s configuration, the addition of ten toilets and evidence that as many as 30 women were being housed there at one time. Numerous city code violations were noted and a public nuisance complaint was filed December 7.
A request for a temporary restraining order was filed by the city against Wu and Wang on December 27 in West Valley Superior Court in Rancho Cucamonga.
Wu and Wang, represented by attorney Stephen Shepard, initially moved to resist the enforcement action but eventually complied, such that maternity hosting activity at the home ended. At the end of January, Wang was dismissed as a party in the enforcement action, and in February Wu, represented by Shepard, entered into a “stipulated judgment” whereby nine of the building code violations were acknowledged and a correction plan was put into place. Under the terms of that agreement, which was confirmed as a court-ordered settlement issued by West Valley Superior Court Judge Keith Davis on February 11, Wu was required to remedy sewer line discharge violations, cover exposed electrical wires on the premises, outfit the single entrance bedrooms with emergency exits, provide ventilation, correct illegal construction of add-on rooms in the house, install smoke and carbon monoxide detectors and alarms, and ensure clearance of flammable materials.
On March 11, Wu, in an apparent attempt to get out from beneath the burden of the situation, had the home listed for sale with an asking price of $3.3 million. Despite the listing, the home has a more realistic appraised value of less than half that, at $1.6 million. The listing does not appear to have attracted any serious buyers and on May 31 it was taken off the market.
Despite the stipulated judgment, there is no indication that Wu has undertaken any of the improvements needed to bring the property up to code. No permits to undertake the agreed-upon changes to the structure have been pulled at City Hall.
Less than three weeks after the listing was discontinued, Wu was hit with a foreclosure notice. Title is further clouded by the city’s recording of documents requiring that the home cannot be cleared as a habitable structure until the inspectors sign off on the improvements referenced in the stipulated judgment.
The trustee sale will take place at 11:30 a.m. on August 16 at the Chino Public Library in the Chino City Hall complex.