An embattled Janesville landlord is headed to trial on dozens of citations issued by the City of Janesville for unsafe conditions at his rental properties.

According to online court records, a one day court trial before Rock County Judge John Wood is scheduled for December 18th for Richard and Mary Donahue.

The Donahues face about $27,000 in ordinance violations for things like no heat or hot water, rodent infestations, hazardous electrical systems and unsanitary interior structures across nine properties.

It’s unclear if Rick Donahue could face additional citations from the City of Janesville after he was captured on video earlier this month using an unmarked tow truck to dump a van full of belongings at the Hedberg Public Library.

It’s not the only trial Rick Donahue faces that month. On December 3rd, a one-day jury trial is planned in Walworth County for an operating while intoxicated, first offense charge.

The Donahues are no stranger to the legal system. In 2022 the U.S. Department of Justice filed a sexual harassment lawsuit against the couple.

According to the complaint, since at least 2000, Donahue made repeated and unwelcome sexual comments to female tenants, entered the homes of female tenants without their consent, touched female tenants’ bodies without their consent, requested sexual contact, offered reduced or free rent in exchange for sexual contact, and took adverse housing-related actions against female tenants who refused his sexual advances.

That case was settled in February with the Donahues agreeing to pay 13 victims and the federal government over $500,000. As part of that agreement, the Donahues can no longer manage rental properties.

The couple issued 28 day termination notices to dozens of tenants in January, leaving local social service agencies scrambling to provide aid.

In 2015 a Janesville man was convicted of devising a scheme to steal thousands of dollars worth of items from Home Depot, in order to return the items for gift cards. He would steal small, high-value items, and recruited heroin addicts to return the items for store credit.

At the time Tyler Groeller told Janesville Police he would sell the gift cards to Rick Donahue for 50 cents on the dollar, and that Donahue may have used the cards to remodel entire rental properties.

At Groeller’s sentencing the prosecutor mentioned that the landlord was never charged because Groeller had made conflicting statements to police.