Landlord sentenced to jail for contempt for allowing dozens of problem rentals
A Franklin County environmental judge has sentenced a landlord to 90 days in jail after finding him in contempt for not mitigating ongoing drug dealing and other criminal activity and ignoring building code violations at a list of apartments on the South Side and in Whitehall.
Jose R. Villavicencio, 60, of Columbus, was found in contempt Monday by Municipal Court Environmental Division Judge Stephanie Mingo and must begin three months behind bars on March 1, court records show.
A landlord who held dozens of properties under limited liability incorporation and a former doctor who lost his license to practice medicine, Villavicencio has been in this situation before. The Dispatch reported in 2018 that Villavicencio was sentenced to close to six months for similar issues with units across the city. In February 2021, the city shuttered eight of his properties.
“The level of inaction and indifference displayed by this landlord is among the worst I’ve seen in my time as city attorney,” City Attorney Zach Klein said in a written statement. “Landlords have a duty to their tenants and to the city.
"They simply cannot ignore a revolving door of criminal activity and numerous code violations and expect to be able to continue operating. If your actions threaten public health and safety, we will come after you and hold you accountable.”
The judge also imposed $250-per-day fines for code violations on dozens of mostly South Side rental properties owned by Villavicencio, and ordered three be boarded up for continued drug trafficking and criminal activity.
Neither Villavicencio nor his attorney in the case could be reached for comment.
“This landlord has subjected tenants to deplorable living conditions and allowed criminals to use his properties as hubs to traffic fentanyl and other drugs into our streets," Klein's office said in the statement. "This is just the first step to turn these properties around and make them positive pieces for our neighborhoods again.”
At one unit owned by Villavicencio on Wheatland Avenue, Columbus police have responded to multiple calls for service, including for shots fired, burglaries, suspicious persons and drug trafficking, the city said. In August 2022, police "conducted a controlled purchase of fentanyl at the premises, and just days later obtained and executed a search warrant, where detectives recovered three semi-automatic firearms, crack cocaine, fentanyl, marijuana, ecstasy and more than $1,000 in cash."
The Dispatch reported in 2012 that the State Medical Board voted to revoke Villavicencio's medical license, saying that his practice amounted to little more than a "pill mill" and that he posed a serious danger to his patients.
The board also investigated his treatment of 16 patients between 2005 and 2008, including several who died soon after appointments. But the board did not accuse him of being directly responsible for those deaths, and his attorney argued that they should not have been part of the investigation into Villavicencio's practice.
Problems in his practice included giving potent pain medications without proper evaluation and follow-up with the patients, according to the board's investigation. The board said he also didn't refer patients to specialists, such as those who focus on pain management and addiction.
In some cases, Villavicencio gave narcotics to known street-drug users and to patients who were getting painkillers elsewhere, the Ohio Attorney General's office said. He had been an emergency physician before starting a German Village practice, where about 90% of his patients were seen for pain, the state said at the time.
wbush@gannett.com
@ReporterBush
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Columbus landlord given 90 days in jail for problem rental units
