Bed bugs invade Fort Wayne apartments

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) - People who live in Fort Wayne's East Central Towers said bed bugs have  taken over their apartments.

NewsChannel 15 talked to residents who said they're waking up with bug bites and find bugs crawling over their mattresses, floors, and furniture. They said they've notified the managers, but don't think anyone's taking them seriously.

Peggy Shanahan said it all started slowly, but then the problem spread. "I was itching. I started getting welts on my skin. Just as I was laying down I could feel things biting me all over," said Shanahan.

She said before she knew it, "I lifted it up to the box springs and all the edges of the box spring were covered with the bed bugs and their eggs."

Peggy said she threw out most of her furniture and clothes because she found bugs living and crawling everywhere. She keeps bleach water on hand and sprays a couple of times a day. 

She said when she reported the problem to managers at least a month ago, she got nowhere. "I hate to say it this way, but it was kind of blown off. You know, 'Well, we sprayed.'"

Other tenants said they know the problem is bad, but feel like managers are doing something about it. Jennifer said, "I'm not going to say the management has a handle on it, but they're working on things."

"Maybe or maybe not," said Peggy Shanahan.

She said on July 7 an exterminator came to check out her place. "They said they would come back and spray and I have not seen anybody since," she said. "I haven't heard of anything being done since."

But while NewsChannel 15 was at Shanahan's apartment Thursday, someone slid a note under her door. That note, from apartment managers, said she needs to prep her place because on Monday it will be treated for bed bugs.

She said she'll believe it when she sees it. "They're in the carpets and in the walls. This whole place needs to be, I believe evacuated."

NewsChannel 15 did uncover a few other ways management is reacting to the problem.

An informational meeting with the Health Department happened last month and The Fort Wayne Neighborhood Code is scheduled to make a stop out there Friday.