Slumlord to split punishment time between jail, vacant house

Convicted slumlord Oliver C. Lawrence will split his 70 days of incarceration between the Richmond City Jail and a vacant house he owns on North 19th Street in Richmond.

General District Judge Phillip L. Hairston today modified the terms of Lawrence’s sentence, partially granting his attorneys’ request that he be allowed to serve home incarceration.

The city attorney’s office supported the idea on the condition that Lawrence, owner of Bayou Properties, be required stay at one of the city vacant properties that he owns, rather than at his $1 million house in Ashland.

Based on the judge’s order, Lawrence will serve 30 days in the city jail and then 40 days at the home on North 19th. Lawrence is scheduled to report to jail tomorrow following last month’s sentencing, which included new and previously suspended fines of more than $177,000 for more than 180 convictions on property-maintenance violations.

Lawrence also will be assigned to the jail’s inmate work crew that cleans up blighted properties.

Richmond officials have been grappling with Lawrence over the condition of his properties for more than two years. He owns 150 to 300 properties, according to city estimates. In 2007, the city cited 175 violations on Lawrence’s buildings, including some in the 300 block of West Broad Street and the 200 block of East Grace Street that had been heavily damaged by suspicious fires.