State Inspectors Questioned As Home Slides Toward Creek

By Nathan Baca Wednesday March 11, 2015 6:21 PM UPDATED: Wednesday March 11, 2015 8:32 PM LEWIS CENTER, Ohio -

The Lewis Center home was supposed to be a retirement dream for the Deweese family. Instead - "I'm on high blood pressure medicine for the first time. This has just been a nightmare," said Mary Deweese.

The nightmare began after their mobile home was set on the lot at the Worthington Arms Manufactured Home Community in Lewis Center. The home's frame began to warp out of place.

"This here is popping out, Dick Deweese said while examining siding near his front door. The door is so bad that you have to tape it in the wintertime because the wind comes in."

The woods creaks, the walls crack, and there are weeds growing from the floor.

The Ohio Manufactured Home Commission has two investigators for the entire state and the DeWeeses got visits from them both. The first one, Gary Whitaker, did a quick check and found nothing. The second one, Jared Rose, found a series of installation problems - calling the Deweese's home unsafe. That inspector is no longer with the state, but he wrote this letterthe Deweeses warning them of the dangers inside their home. Rose declined to talk to 10 Investigates.

Mary Deweese added, "If it is set bad, you take it apart and you fix it right."

The director of the Ohio Manufactured Home Commission, Janet Williams, cancelled an on-camera interview with 10 Investigates saying she anticipated a lawsuit from the Deweeses.

10 Investigates learned the first inspector for the Deweese's home, Gary Whitaker, was accused of falsifying his timesheets and missing inspections.

The commission director stood by Whitaker, but the State Inspector General's Office recommended changes to how the commission tracks their inspectors and asked that Whitaker have to verify inspections.

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State Inspectors Questioned As Home Slides Toward Creek