| By Neil Johnson, reporter/anchor Big Radio |

Embattled Janesville landlord Richard Donahue is set to appear in Rock County court next week on thousands of dollars in city property maintenance fines.

The city of Janesville is leveling $23,000 in fines in 46 code violation complaints. That comes as Donahue has abruptly filed to terminate leases for dozens of his tenants — a story WCLO Radio News broke last week out of an open records request the radio station filed with the city of Janesville.

Those city fines, Donahue’s tenant lease terminations, and the timeline of the city’s legal action all dovetail with a $500,000 fair housing violation settlement Donahue reached just last week with the U.S. Department of Justice. That case is tied to sex harassment complaints against tenants at some of Donahue’s Janesville properties that the DOJ says rolled out over 20 years.

Last week, Donahue settled a 2022 lawsuit involving 13 female tenants the DOJ says he’s suspected of touching inappropriately and trying to coerce into sex acts by telling them he’d offer them a break on rents.

The suit says Donahue took adverse housing action against some of the women who said they’d rejected or resisted his sexual advances.

Donahue’s lease terminations come as he agrees through the settlement to cease managing his own rental properties.

The city says local housing authorities and nonprofit social service agencies plan to meet to discuss services and housing options with dozens of tenants whose leases the city says Donahue filed to terminate last week under a series of 28-day eviction notices.

The city in its own court action shows records of multiple property code violations at some of Donahue’s Janesville rental properties, including dwellings harboring vermin or insects, unsafe roofs, windows and doors, electrical hazards and improperly installed or maintained plumbing fixtures and appliances.