ARMOUR, S.D. – Businessman Dudley Schroeder was convicted of a crime and spent two days in jail. The infraction? His downtown auto shop was declared a nuisance property and he didn’t clean it up as ordered by a judge.
Schroeder’s transmission repair service is located on U.S. 281 on the southern end of this small town 45 miles southwest of Mitchell. City leaders said they had tried for many years and attempted far less invasive methods to get him to clean it up before resorting to legal action.
Unless Schroeder, 65, removes the vehicles, old transmissions and other debris that have accumulated in the front of his business and on the 1.5 acres behind the building, he will spend 28 more days in jail due to his October 2022 public nuisance conviction. The city also filed a civil lawsuit in May that could require the property to be forcibly cleaned up and Schroeder assessed for the cost and court fees.
“It’s been a nightmare,” Schroeder told News Watch. “I’m not trying to buck the system, but I still don’t know why I was put in jail. When they took me down there, nobody at the jail even knew what I was there for.”
The ongoing legal cases in Armour are just a small sample of how property code violations and enforcement remain a major point of contention in many small towns and cities across South Dakota. The disputes often pit property owners seeking to assert their individual rights against municipal officials trying to spruce up struggling communities in an attempt to attract new residents and commerce.
Advocates for stricter code enforcement said poorly kept properties located within municipal boundaries can draw rodents, reduce neighboring property values and lead to lower community standards that allow others to let their properties deteriorate.
But as News Watch reported in July, code enforcement crackdowns can go awry in some communities, such as in Faith, where residents became so angry that the city council rescinded a new, stricter code enforcement plan.
Schroeder acknowledges that his property had been unkempt for quite some time before the legal consequences began, and he said he has tried over the past couple years to comply with city directives. But it has been challenging, he said, as he has tried to maintain a viable business while battling health conditions that include prostate cancer, meningitis and long-COVID, which he said he contracted while in jail.
Schroeder said his illnesses have sapped his strength and left him with more than $250,000 in medical debt. The code enforcement cases have cost him more than $20,000 in legal fees, and he said some former clients no longer want to do business with him.
‘An extreme eyesore for years’
However, the city attorney for Armour said a county judge felt he had no choice other than to throw Schroeder in jail because all other legal options were exhausted.
Attorney Mike Fink, who serves as prosecutor in the criminal and civil cases against Schroeder, said Schroeder was given multiple opportunities to clean up his property long before being charged and well after being convicted.
“It was an extreme eyesore for many years, and it’s only after all other efforts have proven fruitless that I got involved,” Fink said.
Schroeder pleaded guilty to the misdemeanor charge in August 2022 but wasn’t jailed until October 2023, a time frame during which several court hearings were held and multiple extensions were allowed to give Schroeder time to comply, according to court records.
Armour city ordinances passed in 2010 prohibit nuisances and refer to South Dakota Statute 9-19-3 that allows for fines of up to $500 or imprisonment up to 30 days for violating a municipal ordinances that are considered Class 2 misdemeanors.
Story by Bart Pfankuch
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