Troy Lewis, Tragic Patriarch Who Lost Five Children In A Fire, Is One And The Same With Troy Lewis The Convicted Sex Offender From Chicago, Why These Ugly Facts Matter When Considered Against The Slumlord Practices Of People Like Paul Bertelson Who Prey Upon A Vulnerable Class Of Tenant...

Mug Shot, therefore public domain, blog post by John Hoff

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A Tragedy Of Biblical Proportions

Troy Lewis is a tragic figure like the Old Testament character of Job. Lewis lost five of his seven small children in a fire on Valentine's Day, and this after losing the mother of his children  Kim Davis (Kimberly Davis) to heart failure a few months back. The most cynical among us would not wish such a thing upon their worst enemies.

In light of everything being said about that second (and third) story apartment at 2818 Colfax Ave. N. and the situation with the heaters, if the ultimate report by the fire investigators lays any portion of blame upon the landlord then I hope Troy Lewis sues Paul "Slumlord Doing Good For Jesus" Bertelson until Bertelson doesn't have two nickels to toss into the church collection plate.

The fact Lewis was renting from Bertelson and the fact Lewis is indeed a convicted sex offender (smoking gun verification of THAT in the documents above, see previous article with troubling facts hinting at this situation) do not appear to be closely related facts, unless you know how slumlords habitually operate in our neighborhood where decades of bad city and county policy has allowed poverty to concentrate itself...


Slumlording 101 With Professor Bertelson

Slumlords, like the mealy-mouthed maggot Paul Bertelson, are wolves in sheep's clothing who prey upon the fact low income people with criminal records don't have a lot of choices and need to endure whatever slumlords dish out. In this instance, Troy Lewis is a convicted sex offender from Cook County, Illinois with seven small children who has already been evicted by another local slumlord, the notorious Mahmoud Khan. The precise detail of the sex crime conviction is unknown, though it was serious enough to require registration as a "predatory offender" back in 2008; a requirement Lewis ignored until brought up on charges for failing to register. The details, whatever they are, would be found in some kind of court file in Cook County, Illinois.

This is the precise class of people slumlords prey upon. The fact a sex offender doesn't get a lot of sympathy (especially from this blog, most of the time) just makes somebody like Lewis a more perfect victim for somebody like Bertelson. (And before that, Mahmoud Khan, see the document linked above listing an eviction)

This is not somebody with a lot of choices in life. So if the heaters on the second story of 2818 Colfax Ave. N. were not working or weren't putting out enough warmth, this is not a man who can call up his landlord and say, "My seven small children are cold and I'm cold, too, but not as cold as they are! By God, you better get somebody out here, Bertelson, or I'll get the city on your ass!"

No, this is somebody who has to wait, patiently, and muddle through no matter what the slumlord says, because where, realistically, is he going to go? The so-called "rights" tenants have are not something that will keep you warm in your car in Minnesota while you wait for your court date and, if you're lucky, a volunteer from a legal clinic to represent you. That's reality. And slumlords like Paul Bertelson exist in that dark, messy space between the high ideals of the law and the grim reality of winter in Minnesota in low-end rental housing.

Like A Plot By John Grisham

This situation with five dead children echoes a plot in "The Street Lawyer" by John Grisham. In that book, a woman with young children dies sleeping in a car because she has been illegally evicted. Admittedly, it's only a slight echoing of the plot because what you have are dead children and a slumlord; whatever actually happened on that second story will not be known until the fire department finishes its investigation, which is more of an art than a science.  So we have the beginning of the story. We'll see how the story ends.

Quiet, out of court settlement would be where I'd place my wager.

Yes, It's The Same Troy Lewis

The documents above shows that Troy Lewis, born January 23, 1954 and convicted in Chicago of a sex offense, came to Minnesota where at first he didn't properly register as a predatory offender. This same Troy Lewis is associated with Kimberly Davis ("Kim Davis") and lived with Kim Davis. The addresses linking Lewis and Kim Davis are smoking gun proof there are NOT two people named Troy Lewis, one a sex offender and the other a tragic figure who just lost five children and, a few months ago, the mother of his children Kim Davis.

Sadly, even more tragically, these men are one and the same man. This man is both deserving of our sympathy and the kind of person most people with good sense would hold at arm's length in light of his criminal record.

The addresses where Lewis and Davis lived together can be found by comparing the two "Been Verified" reports, above. The most recent address, 2818 Colfax Ave. N., is apparently too recent to show up on the Been Verified report.

It would be less messy to simply see "2818 Colfax Ave. N." on the reports, but the link between Troy Lewis and Kimberly Davis and the addresses where they both resided is proof enough when you compare the information in the two reports. If there's another Troy Lewis, age 60, associated with a Kim Davis and living with her at the same addresses, well, get a big steel umbrella because odds are we'll be hit by an asteroid in the next five minutes. (Yeah, the report says "59 years old" but look at the birthday listed and do the math. Step it up, "Been Verified," you're slipping)

Where To Go From Here?

How many more people have to die in burning buildings in North Minneapolis, or leap from burning buildings in North Minneapolis, before this city cracks down on slumlords the way it should? I would prefer a more sympathetic figure than convicted sex offender Troy Lewis to serve as a symbol of the class of people victimized by slumlords, but you can't trade in one reality for a different reality the way you can trade in a Honda.

This is what we have. Troy Lewis, warts and all. I know some people won't like this information being aired, but look on the bright side. Now you won't have to worry the information will come to light at an inconvenient moment. It came to light and so what? This man still deserves our sympathy.

And unless some kind of wild, unexpected, out-of-this-world facts come to light about the source of this fire...

Slumlord Paul Bertelson still needs to be sued.