About a week after the death of former New Progressive Party activist Félix Plaud, staff from the Puerto Rico government’s Administration of Mental Health and Anti-Addiction Services (ASSMCA) visited the property understood to have been his residence in recent years. The visit followed a lawsuit in which Plaud, his mother and a third party were named as defendants.
The complaint alleges the property housed young people in the custody of the Department of the Family who had addiction problems, and it cannot be ruled out that the residence was used as a facility for such youths. Both the Department of the Family and ASSMCA state the property does not appear in their records as a licensed home for those services.
The architect who owns the property is claiming $269,000 in allegedly owed rent and construction carried out, she alleges, without her authorization. The home has drawn earlier disputes: in 2022 the Municipality of San Juan sued the architect and Plaud over a carport construction allegedly done without permits, and in 2023 the neighborhood residents’ association sued both over $10,082 in unpaid maintenance fees.
Plaud paid only $800, and the court issued a lien on the property so the association could recover the debt when the property is sold.