The identity of a Janesville landlord accused of issuing 28 day termination notices to dozens of tenants last week is revealed though an open records request.
According to a news release from the City of Janesville, that same landlord was issued 46 citations from the Housing Services Division in a single day last month.
An open records request filed with the City of Janesville Thursday morning reveals that Rick and Mary Donahue were the landlords who received more than $23,000 in citations across nine different properties.
It’s not the first time the Donahues have been in hot water. 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.
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.
February 16th at 1:00 p.m. the City of Janesville, the Janesville Boys & Girls Club, and ECHO are hosting a resource event for residents affected by the termination notices in the gym at the Janesville Boys & Girls Club.
