Mosley Motel residents evicted today

ST. PETERSBURG (FOX 13) - The last of the tenants at the Mosley Motel left, hauling with them everything they own. One woman carried her toddler in her arms. A man carried a chair in each hand.

The new owners, Altis Cardinal, out of Miami, bought the place and plans to demolish it to make way for redevelopment.

"This is one of the worst situations I have ever seen," said Pinellas Sheriff Bob Gualtieri, after he walked through. He described the living conditions as squalid, and said no one , especially children should have living there.

Tenants had until last Friday morning to leave, but officials changed the deadline to Monday at 8 am to give people more wiggle room.

At one time, more than 400 people were living in the dilapidated 70 plus year old building. Social workers from Pinellas County, the City of St. Petersburg, and Catholic Charities  have been placing tenants in shelters and inexpensive living situations. By this weekend, there were about 100 people still living in the Mosley,

As the deadline approached, people began filtering out, burdened down with their belongings, children and pets. Mid morning Monday, the sheriff said everyone was gone.

Half a dozen people handed over their pets, six dogs and a cat, to Pinellas County Animal Services because they didn't want or couldn't take the animals with them.