INDIANAPOLIS -- As Denise Richardson was trying to explain how her apartment's managers weren't properly maintaining the north-side Indianapolis complex, she noticed several roaches were crawling on one of her doors.

"See? Look! Look at all those roaches. That's gross," the Timber Ridge Apartments tenant said.

Henry Radford, Richardson's boyfriend, seized on the moment to make a point about the bugs.

"You wake up in the middle of the night, you're swatting them off the bed," he said.

Both say roaches are just one thing that makes living at Timber Ridge miserable and unhealthy. They say the complex's managers have done little to improve conditions, and while they'd like to leave, they say they can't afford to break their lease.

Conditions at the complex have caught the attention of city inspectors and the Indianapolis Housing Agency, which says it already had been investigating Timber Ridge, located at 4005 Meadows Drive, on suspicion of rent-assistance fraud.

"I have never seen a worse case of man's inhumanity to man driven by greed," said Bud Myers, executive director of the Indianapolis Housing Agency.

Trash Strewn In Vacant Apartments

Near the apartment shared by Richardson and Radford are vacant units that contain trash and human waste. The units also feature leaking water, mold, and broken windows that allow access to anyone wanting to enter, Call 6 for Help's Rafael Sanchez reported.

Radford said it doesn't matter how often he cleans his apartment -- the roaches won't leave.

"I cooked a meal one day and left it out on the counter for like two seconds. (I) came back, and I just gave it to the roaches" because the bugs had already found it, Radford said.

Radford and Richardson said they reported the problems in August but haven't been able to get anyone to fix them.

An apartment manager on duty Tuesday declined to comment. The property's operator, New Jersey-based PMR Companies, didn't respond to Call 6's request for comment.

The IHA said it has been investigating the complex's owners for about four years. It said it plans to move more than 10 families out of the complex, saying it believes they were exposed to asbestos.

The Marion County prosecutor's office asked the city's housing police to check the site. Sanchez said he would report Wednesday on what city inspectors are doing about the complex.