'It's hell:' Seniors in Lakeland's low-income housing complain about bedbugs

LAKELAND (FOX 13) - Residents at a low-income apartment complex for seniors say they are infested with bedbugs.

“It’s hell,” said resident Essie Weathersby. “Very frustrating.”

Weathersby, who is disabled, says she has been trying to sleep on chairs because she threw her bed out because it was so rife with bedbugs. She says her couch is as well.

In addition to biting and causing big red sores, experts say they can cause skin rashes and allergic reactions. Bedbugs can also transmit disease.

The problem started at the beginning of April. The Lakeland Housing Authority says it has brought in a pest control company several times to treat the place. They even had a bedbug-sniffing dog trying to ferret out the little buggers.

Ben Stevensen, who heads up the Housing Authority, told FOX 13 he thought the problem had been solved.

“There is still an issue?” he said on Friday. “That’s news to me. I have to check into that and see what’s going on…At this point, we told them they have to clean up their act, and if they don’t do so, they are going to be cited a daily fee.”

That fee could be up to $250 a day.

Cook says if the situation is not resolved in the next month, the Lakeland Housing Authority could be brought before code enforcement officials at their July meeting.