Landlord says equipment theft assisted by Baltimore police

A Baltimore landlord has accused his tenant of stealing from the rental property and the Baltimore Police Department of assisting with the theft after calling for help, even as the tenant says he did not take any property that didn’t belong to him.

James Marks leased a portion of his West Baltimore Street property, outfitted to be a restaurant, to Busharat Khan in December 2014 with the understanding Khan and several other individuals would operate a pizzeria, according to the complaint filed this week.

Khan is a co-owner and operator of Venus Pizzeria LLC, which operates a restaurant on Greenmount Avenue, according to the complaint.

Khan opened another Venus Pizzeria in West Baltimore but in May, the lawsuit claims, he met with several other co-owners and employees and began loading fixtures and equipment into their vehicles, according to the complaint.

Khan said Thursday he and his employees removed their own property from the restaurant and even told Marks if anything was removed accidentally it would be replaced.

“I don’t know why he’s filing a lawsuit,” Khan said.

Marks came to the restaurant and called the police when he saw property being removed, according to the complaint. But Marks alleges the officers not only failed to prevent the removal of property but created a physical barrier between Marks and the defendants and told him not to interfere with the removal of the property.

The officers “escorted the Defendant Looters through the Leased Property and onto portions of the Property that [were] not leased to [the defendants],” the complaint states.

Khan said the officers assisted because he had paperwork showing the property belonged to him.

“We didn’t take that stuff from him,” he said.

When Marks told the defendants, including the police, to leave his property, they ignored him and an officer continued to prevent Marks from stopping Khan, according to the complaint. Marks alleges the Venus West operators sold some of the property at took the rest for use at other restaurants.

Since the incident, the defendant renters abandoned the restaurant, according to the complaint, and have not paid rent.

Marks sought criminal charges against Khan in June for theft and malicious destruction of property, and at a hearing Thursday in the District Court of Maryland in Baltimore City, a judge specially set the case in for a trial Dec. 3, according to solo practitioner Allan H. Rombro, who represented Khan at the hearing. Rombro is not representing Khan in the civil litigation.

Marks is represented by solo practitioner Gregory A. Slate of Washington D.C. Thursday, Slate said “a considerable effort was made to avoid litigation,” including the application for criminal charges.

Slate said the property is still for rent and Marks has “worked tirelessly to restore the property and mitigate the damage.”

Marks’ complaint alleges breach of contract and tortious breach of contract against Khan and Venus Pizzeria as well as conversion, trespass and trespass to chattels against the other individuals involved in the incident.

Marks also alleges trespass against the four officers and negligent hiring, training and supervision against the police, police commissioner and city.

The case is James Marks v. Busharat Khan et al., 24C15005084.