Woman says management refuses to take care of yellow jackets invading apartment

DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — Yellow jackets are invading a DeKalb County apartment, and a mother says management won’t help even after a sting sent her daughter to the hospital.

Channel 2 investigative reporter Sophia Choi has learned the woman has been dealing with the problem for six months, and she says the apartment management has done little to get rid of the swarm.

Sianeh Dennis said the yellow jackets started getting into her unit at the Haven on Peachwood Apartments in DeKalb County in June.

“They come in through the kitchen and then going to the living room, going toward the rooms,” Dennis said, showing Choi where the yellow jackets were going in her home. “I mean they’re coming in the middle of the night. We wake up. We hear the buzz.”

Now, six months later, one of them stung her 8-year-old daughter Sarah on Sunday, exacerbating her asthma.

By Monday, she was at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta at Egleston with breathing problems, a fever and stomach pain.

Doctors released her with medication.

“My daughter has been so scared. She’s seeing yellow jackets everywhere. She doesn’t even want to be alone in a room anymore,” Dennis said.

Dennis showed Choi some of the maintenance requests she sent to apartment managers.

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“I’ve called corporate two times. I left them a message. I’ve emailed them. I went to the office and told them, ‘Hey, this is going on. What’s going on?”

But despite her pleas for help, Dennis said the yellow jackets are still invading her home.

Initially, Dennis said the managers told her they were honeybees and protected.

But Channel 2 Action News sent a picture of the insects to the state agriculture department which worked with UGA’s entomology department to determine they are not bees — they are yellow jackets.

Dennis said the management eventually sent out an inspector who said the insects are all in the walls.

That was weeks ago, on Dec. 4.

“They said they’re waiting for corporate to sign on, because the inspector gave them a quote,” Dennis said.

Dennis is now collecting the insects, catching 33 in just one day -- and praying her infant doesn’t also get stung.

“We’ve seen a lot of them by the playpen,” Dennis said.

After seeing the insects, Choi went to the leasing office to find out what the plan to get rid of them was, but before she could even ask a question, the three people inside physically threw her out of the office and locked the door.

Choi said the office workers hid in the back. She asked them for a corporate number but never got one from them. She tried calling the office and only got a recording.

Choi dug around and found the name of the owner, a company called First Communities. Despite her emails and calls, no one got back to her.

Dennis said her $2,000+ rent covers pest control, according to the lease. Now, she’s looking for a lawyer to sue.

“I’ve been patient with them,” Dennis said. “Enough is enough. Clearly, you are not taking our safety into consideration.”

Legal Aid said in a situation like this, make sure you tell the landlord in writing what the issue is and give them reasonable time to fix it.

If they don’t do it, you can hire someone yourself and deduct the cost from next month’s rent, as long as you put it in writing to management with an estimate.

The important thing, put everything in writing.

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