MEDINA, Ohio -- A couple buying an older home trusted that county health inspectors would do their jobs. Instead that trust may have been betrayed.

Video

Couple Has Sewage Problems

NewsChannel5 investigator Ron Regan discovered an important lesson every homeowner should know, as he went inside a couple's home within weeks of moving in.

"I got out and I was very upset because I realized that I was showering in our own crap," Elizabeth Morton said.

She said it made her skin crawl.

"We are recycling our own feces, showering in it, brushing our teeth in it, for two months," Chris DeSarle said.

The couple worked for weeks fixing up a 50-year-old home in Medina County, surrounded by lots of open land.

And before they bought the house, health inspectors said their septic system needed to be replaced to keep raw sewage from contaminating their well water.

"I think ultimately who dropped the ball would definitely have to lay solely in the lap of the health department," DeSarle said.

Regan said they blame the Medina County Health Department because they did everything they were told to do. The seller paid for an $8,000 septic system and before Morton and Desarle moved in, the health department tested their well again and gave it a clean bill of health.

"I can only imagine where it really came from. Because it didn't come from our well, because if it did come from our well, it would have shown E.-coli, again," DeSarle said.

A health department supervisor didn't want to talk with NewsChannel5.

Regan used the Ohio Open Records Act to see what health inspectors recommended.

Not only was a new septic system required, but also an aeration system. An aeration system, which the couple said was never installed.

Regan said that wasn't discovered by health inspectors until after they moved in.

"I helped him lift up the lid and he said there is no aeration system. You have no aeration system," DeSarle said.

The septic tank installer said no one told him to include an aeration system or repair a 50-year-old line connecting the system to the home. In fact, Gary Burnett said the health department signed off on everything he did.

"And I had it inspected by the health department and approved right down the line," Burnett said.

Since NewsChannel5 began investigating, work has begun to fix the septic system at no cost to DeSarle and Morton.

The original inspector who signed off on the septic tank has left the department, Regan reported.

But the county attorney's office concedes the proper paperwork was not filled out, making it difficult to know what the inspector did or failed to do.

Here's what you should remember when buying a home that needs repairs.

• Be present when repair work is being done so you can see the work for yourself.
• Check with health inspectors repeatedly to make sure that work being done is up to code and all proper permits are issued.
• Always get it in writing. Don't just trust the work will get done.

Sometimes even the obvious will pay off big in long run and protect you from headaches down the road.