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Don Connolly, infamous for his tax deed purchases, is sentenced to one year of house arrest and 150 hours of community service.
By JEFF TESTERMAN, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times, published August 28, 2002
TAMPA -- Don Connolly, the land speculator no one wanted as a neighbor, will be spending a lot more time at home.
Charged with perjury and violating probation, Connolly avoided a prison sentence Tuesday, but left a Hillsborough County courtroom with a felony conviction, a sentence of one year of house arrest and an order to perform 150 hours of community service.
Connolly also got a terse warning: Violate probation again, or miss another restitution payment, "and I'll send you to prison," Circuit Judge Debra K. Behnke said.
Connolly became a household name in recent months with his strategy of buying cheap tax deeds and intimidating residents into paying top dollar for them. Some homeowners victimized by the Valrico businessman said they were hoping Behnke would hand down tougher justice.
"I think he got off easy," said Robert C. Jones, a retired St. Petersburg man who attended Connolly's sentencing. "I think he should have gone to jail for the way he treated me."
Connolly bought a tax deed for 17 feet of Jones' home at 3139 25th St. N and threatened to put a fence down the middle of the widower's house. Jones was so frightened he moved out until attorneys settled the matter with a $16,500 check to Connolly for a deed he had bought for $2,436.
"I think the guy is a criminal," said Alice Beehner, one of the Tarpon Woods homeowners in Pinellas County who lost their lakefront view when Connolly bought their lake bottom, erected a fence on the shoreline, painting part of it pink, and demanded $450,000 to sell it back.
"He's just a bad dude," Beehner said. "It's sad that people can get away with this type of thing.
Norman Cannella, Connolly's attorney, stressed Tuesday that Connolly's business practices broke no laws even if they incensed homeowners.
Cannella urged Behnke to consider only the perjury charge, which stems from Connolly falsifying a state notary application, and the violation of probation charges, which include missing an appointment with his probation officer, falling behind on restitution from a 1997 tax fraud case and misrepresenting his employment.
Prosecutor Patricia Cullen Turpin told Behnke that Connolly's treatment of homeowners ought to be a factor in evaluating his character. But Turpin focused on what she called Connolly's "fundamental dishonesty."
She asked Behnke to consider that Connolly had fallen $18,000 behind in $750-a-month restitution payments at a time when he was buying $600,000 in real estate. She pointed out that he had lied on a notary form, omitting his arrest record, to get a license he would use illegally a half-dozen times in his property deals.
In asking for a 41/2-year prison sentence for Connolly, Turpin said, "The truth is he is an arrogant individual who has no respect for the court system. He has beat it time and time again."
Cannella argued with Turpin, disclosing for the first time that Connolly was merely an employee of land trusts set up by an attorney and had no beneficial interest in the trusts.
When he was making $600,000 in real estate deals and intimidating homeowners, Cannella intimated, Connolly was merely following orders.
Furthermore, Cannella said, Connolly had saved a home for a man, buying a tax deed for his homestead and deeding it back to him.
"He's not the bear the people facing the pink fence think he is," Cannella said.
After hearing those arguments, Behnke said she felt as if she were being asked to determine if Connolly were "Jekyll or Hyde." The judge then said she would treat Connolly no differently than any probationer.
She said she found Connolly's violations "offensive." She left him with no more chances to break the law and stay out of prison.
Behnke adjudicated Connolly guilty of perjury, a felony conviction that deprives him of his civil rights. She also handed down a 364-day suspended jail sentence, put Connolly on a year of community control (house arrest) and ordered him to do 10 hours of community service a month for 15 months.
On the violation of probation charges, Behnke gave Connolly a 21/2-year suspended prison sentence. Connolly remains on 15 years' probation from the tax fraud charge and owes the state $94,717.
Connolly, wearing a gray suit and a furrowed brow, spoke just once. He admitted he had made "some bad decisions" in his real estate dealings and vowed "to get all that resolved" if the judge were merciful.
Two weeks ago, Connolly surprised many with an announcement that he was selling virtually all of his tax deed properties at cost. With the price of their lakefront reduced from $450,000 to $4,000, the Tarpon Woods homeowners jumped at the chance and made the purchase last week.
Some suggested it was the specter of prison that caused Connolly's change of heart.
"Without these charges he was facing," Beehner said, "we might never have gotten our lake back."
-- Jeff Testerman can be reached at (813) 226-3422 or by e-mail at testerman@sptimes.com.