The owner of Maple Grove Apartments in Roanoke, where tensions between Somali-Bantu refugees and American-born blacks drew police attention in April, has been cited by city inspectors for 172 violations of the building code.

Inspectors issued repair orders for broken toilets, holes in walls and ceilings, exposed electrical wiring, inoperable ovens and stoves, and broken windows, among others. Five apartments have been condemned, requiring tenants to vacate.

Dan Webb, the city's codes compliance officer, said, "To me, what might be most significant is that 22 apartment units have been cited. There are only 40 in the entire complex."

What's more, Webb's inspectors, who began a sweeping examination of Maple Grove in April, aren't done yet. They have been in only 22 units so far and plan to complete their investigation "by trying to get into every apartment," he said. Inspectors haven't had access to all units, sometimes because the tenants weren't home.

Of the apartments still to be inspected, Webb said, "Hopefully, not all of them will have violations."

Blighted conditions at the apartments have contributed to dissatisfaction that boils over into anger, residents say.

Dr. George Abraham, a Roanoke allergist, owns the Northwest Roanoke apartments through a corporation in which he is the only officer. His lawyer, Charles Phillips, said that on Wednesday he spoke with Abraham, who said that since the most recent inspections on Friday, "all the major repairs and defects" have been corrected. Phillips said that Abraham asserted, "If an inspection was made now, you would find no major problems" at the complex.

"This has been an eye-opener for him, not being a prior apartment owner," added Phillips.

Webb couldn't be reached late Wednesday afternoon after Phillips' comments.

About half the 60 or so Somali-Bantus who were living at Maple Grove when threats and rock-throwing erupted in March were relocated in April to an apartment complex owned by the Roanoke Redevelopment and Housing Authority.

The rest of the Africans have applied for public housing and are on a waiting list, said Beth Lutjen, director of the Catholic Diocese of Richmond's Refugee and Immigration Service. Her organization has been placing families from Africa and elsewhere in area apartments for years, with low rents being a key factor in settling them. Rents at Maple Grove range from $425 to $525 a month.

Lutjen, who occasionally visits the Somali-Bantus at Maple Grove, has said many of her African clients have repeatedly asked Abraham for better maintenance of the apartments. They hoped that he would make improvements after the code inspectors arrived.

Abraham has received written notice from the code inspectors of varying deadlines -- from May 26 to June 9 -- to repair the violations, depending on the dates the offending units were examined. The citations state that failure to make the repairs is a criminal misdemeanor and may result in a fine of up to $2,500.

Some of the violations "may be easy to fix, and some serious," Webb said.

Inspectors' reports mentioned mold in several apartments. Severe reactions to mold are possible in people with allergies or asthma, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.

In a least one Maple Grove unit, an inspector has said the mold can't be kept under control merely with extra cleaning by the resident, blaming drywall that has been saturated with water -- possibly from a roof leak.

Webb said that although inspections haven't been finished, more will be done possibly this week. Phillips said Abraham was trying to contact inspectors on Wednesday to ask that they re-examine the units in which violations have already been found.