New Haven Independent

King was arrested three times in December for allegedly assaulting a tenant of a house he owns at 274 Edgewood Ave. and then violating a protective order to stay away from her. King has taken a leave from his post on the Board of Aldermen, where he represents the Dixwell neighborhood and chairs the Public Safety Committee.

His arrests drew the attention of city housing inspectors to the Edgewood Avenue home. Livable City Initiative (LCI) chief Andy Rizzo said Monday that his department learned that King has illegally run rooming houses at both that house and another at 85 Sherman Ave. Rizzo said both houses are zoned for single-family use. “They had too many people there who were unrelated, ” he said. He said LCI sent King a letter ordering him to stop running the properties as rooming houses.

Reports in other media had referred to 274 Edgewood as a “sober house” for recovering addicts. Operators of sober houses can get permission from the city’s disability office to house more than four unrelated adults in a single-family home. But tenants interviewed at 274 Edgewood (pictured) said it’s not a sober house, never was. King confirmed that point in a phone conversation from the Stonington Institution, where he’s enrolled in a month-long rehabilitation program. He said he intended to run a sober house there, but hadn’t submitted any paperwork to the city. “I let [other] people in because I had to pay the rent,” he said.

Both of King’s rental properties appeared in good condition on visits earlier this month.

King said he hadn’t seen the LCI letter yet. He said he plans to sell the Edgewood Avenue house, but not the Sherman Avenue house.

Separately, the city has initiated proceedings to foreclose on one of the two properties. Records show King owes $4,500 in back taxes on them.

Disputes Georgia Hot Tale

King said he’s enrolled in an outpatient program at the Stonington Insitute residential treatment center. The center is primarily known as a drug and alcohol treatment center; King has spoken publicly in the past about his recovery from drug addiction.

But King Monday insisted that, contrary to a police arrest warrant and published reports as well comments from tenants who witnessed the altercations at 274 Edgewood Ave., he had not returned to using drugs. He said he’s been clean for 15 years.

“Looking high and being high is two different things,” he said. He said Stonington also helps “dual-diagnosed” patients and people suffering from depression. “The program is great,” he said. “They teach you values about controlling your temper and living your life.”

Echoing the official police version, tenant Terry Bari (pictured), who said she witnessed the events that led to King’s arrests, said in an interview that he fought with another tenant with whom he had had an affair. Bari said the fight began as a dispute over a “Georgia Hot” hot dog. Bari claimed that King physically attacked the woman, then returned twice more and pounded on her locked bedroom door demanding permission to enter.

In the phone conversation Monday, King said the dispute didn’t have to do with a Georgia Hot. “It was over the fact of drugs being in the house,” he said. Asked if he plans to plead innocent or guilty in court this week, King responded, “I don’t know yet.”