| By Neil Johnson, reporter/anchor,  Big Radio |

Embattled Janesville landlord Richard Donahue pleads not guilty to a $27,000 bundle of fines tied to dozens of rental property code violations.

Donahue appeared in Rock County court Tuesday without an attorney, alongside his spouse, Mary Donahue. She is also named in some of the city violations.

Mary Donahue sought to distance herself from what she calls her husband’s rental property holdings on Tuesday while also pleading not guilty to the more than three dozen rental violations the city flags at multiple Janesville apartments Donahue owns.

“They ticketed me too for his business,” Mary Donahue told Rock County Court Commissioner Jack Hoag.

Mary Donahue then entered a plea of “I guess…not guilty,” telling Hoag: “I have nothing to do with his (Richard Donahue’s) rental business.”

The city’s actions claim that multiple Donahue properties have myriad, unresolved structural and electrical hazards, plus vermin and insect infestations, and bad plumbing.

Mary Donahue also was named to a federal civil lawsuit settled earlier this month that, among other things, accused her husband of trying to sexually coerce female tenants in lieu of rent payments.

Richard Donahue has filed to evict more than 100 of his Janesville tenants, a move made at the same time as the city and federal suits have played out publicly.

Donahue has settled the federal suit naming 13 female tenants, agreeing to $500,000 in payouts to them, according to court papers. He also agreed through that settlement that he’ll no longer directly manage his Janesville rental properties.

The city of Janesville, in a related move, has earmarked $500,000 in special funding to offer as aid to tenants D0nahue filed to evict.

As he left court Tuesday, Richard Donahue declined comment to Big Radio. He deferred to an unnamed attorney.

A reporter later saw Donahue waving as he left the courthouse parking lot driving a red, Corvette coupe.