Richmond property owner faces fines, jail time

A judge ordered Richmond property owner Oliver Lawrence this week to pay $176,000 in fines and spend 70 days in jail.

Assistant City Attorney Greg Lukanuski, who handled the prosecution, said he believes it was the largest fine and also the stiffest jail sentence ordered for property-maintenance violations anywhere in Virginia. He credited building-code inspectors, including John Whealton.

All told, Lawrence has more than 180 convictions. The $176,000 fine and the 70 days in jail were part of a larger, suspended punishment contingent on Lawrence maintaining his properties.

Earlier, he had been fined $357,050 and sentenced to 270 days in jail, all suspended.

The judge ordered Lawrence to arrive at the Richmond City Jail on Nov. 10. He has until next Thursday to appeal.

General District Judge Phillip L. Hairston imposed the fine and jail time Monday.

Reached on his cell phone yesterday, Lawrence said: "I really don't have anything to say." He declined to say whether he would appeal the judge's sentence. His attorney did not return a phone message yesterday.

Also Monday, Hairston convicted Lawrence of 14 more building-code violations, another charge for accumulated debris and one more charge for overgrown vegetation.

On those charges, Hairston sentenced him to pay $35,000, with all but $1,400 suspended, and to serve 24 months in jail, all suspended.

Those charges involve five properties in the city's East End: 1115 N. 34th St.; 1305 N. 37th St.; 1300 N. 38th St.; 1310 N. 38th St.; and 3408 S St.

In July, city officials estimated Lawrence owned 150 to 300 properties.

He has had other legal problems.

In April, a jury awarded more than $150,000 in unpaid wages to 32 construction workers in a case against Lawrence.

The judgment against Lawrence and his Bayou Properties was $237,009 and included $153,775 in unpaid wages and $7,588 for confiscated equipment belonging to the workers, plus interest and lawyers' fees.

Lawrence's lawyer had argued that the workers were not employees of Bayou and questioned whether, as Hispanics, they were eligible to work legally in the United States.

Some of Lawrence's earlier property-maintenance convictions stem from three properties in the 200 block of East Grace Street that were damaged by fire in 2007. The properties are in such poor shape that one business owner has dubbed the area Little Baghdad.

City fire officials said yesterday that they still are investigating that blaze and other suspicious fires at properties owned by Lawrence. No charges have been filed.

Contact Reed Williams at (804) 649-6332 or .