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Officials: Tucson City Hall hit by bedbug infestation

Posted at 6:09 AM, Dec 24, 2019
and last updated 2019-12-24 08:09:38-05

TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) - Officials say Tucson City Hall had been bugged for several months - with bedbugs that is.

It took nearly three months to remove the small insects from the Arizona municipal building.

The first report of bed bugs came in late September, with an employee reporting finding a dead bedbug in a file folder on the third floor.

A week later, the second report surfaced with a sighting a live bedbug on the fourth floor.

As a precaution, exterminators sprayed every floor of City Hall to get rid of the little bloodsuckers.

Officials believe the bedbugs were brought in accidentally from an outside source.

Tucson spokesman Andy Squire after the three-month removal, the city also had to hire a Phoenix company earlier this month to bring in a specially-trained dog to sniff the remaining bugs out.

City officials estimated it cost about $7,853 to get rid of the bedbug infestation, nearly half went to pay for the bedbug sniffing dog.