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Orange Co. leaders prepare to demolish "crime-ridden" condo complex

ORLANDO, Fla. — Channel 9 learned Orange County leaders are prepared to spend millions of tax dollars to tear down a crime-ridden condo complex.

In less than two weeks, the Orlando Utility Company is set to cut off water and power to the units at the Tymberskan condos on Texas Avenue and Skan Drive.

Dwayne Thompson is fighting for his four children. The family rents a unit inside the Tymberskan condos.

“I hate for a child to go through something like this. It is almost a Third World. It shouldn’t be like that,” Thompson said.

The county is working on a proposal to spend up to $3 million to begin tearing down the buildings that aren’t up to code.

The urgency came after owners, many of whom have abandoned their units, failed to pay $80,000 to the utility company.

"Absent of water and absent of power--I can only imagine that this condition is only going to (be) aggravated,” said Capt. Al Rollins with the Orange County Sheriff’s Office.

Deputies have already responded to calls at the complex about six times a day.

In one of the more recent crimes that happened at Tymberskan, a landlord, who wanted to fix up several units, was shot to death.

Plans for demolition are slated for next year.