Feb 13, 2015 2 min read

Bed bugs were discovered again this week in the same Crest Avenue Apartments unit where a large outbreak originated at the Charleroi housing complex late last year.

Jim Hott, senior housing director of the Washington County Redevelopment Authority that manages the 42-unit apartment building for low- and moderate-income residents, said the situation found this week is contained and nothing like the previous outbreak.

“We continue to stay up on it because we don’t want this issue again,” Hott said.

The family of the woman living in the unit paid for the apartment to be cleaned and purchased new furniture after the previous outbreak, Hott said. The authority is now investigating where the tenant is going and whether she is bringing the pests back to the unit after three bed bugs were found on a couch.

“We’re confident they’ll get them, but they believe she’s bringing them in from somewhere else,” Hott said. “One’s too many, but on the other hand … the tenants are more aware. If there’s anything, we’ll stay right on top of it.”

Housing officials think used upholstered furniture the woman brought into the building last year initiated the first outbreak that occurred in early November. The infestation escalated to four apartments, prompting the housing authority to hire Ehrlich Pest Control to perform three treatments over the past few months that ended in January.

“It’s been rectified,” Hott said about the previous infestation. “In one unit, it’s still lingering, but it’s nothing like before.”