Former Owner Jailed For Code Violations On Home Lost In A Foreclosure Sale That Occurred A Month Before Citations Were Issued

In Greenville, South Carolina, The Greenville News reports:

• Derick Smith says he went to the police station this week to get a record proving to a prospective employer that his criminal history is clean, but instead found himself in jail on charges that he violated a Greenville property upkeep ordinance on a home he no longer owned.

• The 37-year-old Easley man spent four hours in jail on Election Day before his parents put up the $1,277 bond to free him after an officer at the police station arrested him on a January bench warrant, he said.

• A day later, Smith said, he presented court records to officials showing that the bank had reclaimed the Keat Street home last November -- a full month before city building codes officers cited him for "international house codes violations."

• Afterward, a judge ordered his bond refunded and the $500 fine dropped. "They treated me like I was a piece of crap," Smith said Friday. "They can do anybody in the world like this."

For the story, see Man jailed in property upkeep case on home he no longer owned.

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