Owner of MagnaGro on house arrest until probation violation hearing
A Lawrence man who owns MagnaGro International is out of federal custody and under house arrest.
U.S. District Judge Julie Robinson has scheduled a hearing for Monday to determine whether Raymond Sawyer, 59, has violated terms of the probation he was granted in a 2009 case.
According to federal court documents that were recently unsealed, prosecutors argue Sawyer has not complied with his probation terms because he faces charges in Lawrence Municipal Court, including for an October incident when Sawyer is accused of assaulting the city’s code enforcement manager.
Sawyer, who was arrested on a warrant on Jan. 14, is on probation for pleading guilty in 2009 to discharging waste from his fertilizer operation at 600 E. 22nd St. into the city’s sewer system. During his five-year probation term, he can’t commit another crime at any level.
But according to federal court records, Sawyer has at least two cases pending in municipal court — one where he’s accused of occupying his business after city inspectors condemned it. Sawyer is also accused in October of running with clenched fists toward Brian Jimenez, the city’s code enforcement manager, after Jimenez said he caught Sawyer on the condemned property.
In April 2010, two men died after they were overcome by fumes from a material being mixed at the site. City officials later declared the site “unfit for human occupancy” and boarded the doors.
Federal prosecutors also accuse Sawyer of leaving the state without permission and not notifying his probation officer within three days after he was questioned by a police officer.






