photo by: Nick Krug

Thomas S. Fritzel leaves the Frank Carlson Federal Courthouse in Topeka, Kan. on Tuesday, Aug. 14, 2018.

Federal prison officials have confirmed that Lawrence developer Thomas Fritzel has reported to prison to serve his sentence for four felonies, though the status of Fritzel’s request to serve his sentence at home remained unclear Thursday.

Eric Henning, the spokesperson for the minimum-security federal prison camp in Yankton, S.D., confirmed to the Journal-World Thursday that Fritzel had arrived at Yankton on Tuesday for service of his sentence. Henning said responses to the Journal-World’s remaining questions, which include the status of Fritzel’s request to serve his sentence at his multimillion-dollar Lawrence home, are being processed.

Fritzel first showed up as an inmate in the Bureau of Prisons database on Wednesday morning. Previously, Fritzel appeared in the database with a register number, but the database stated he was not in BOP custody. One of Fritzel’s attorneys, Edward Novak, said in an email to the Journal-World on Wednesday that the warden of the prison facility has 30 days to consider the home confinement request. He said he did not believe the warden had acted on the request.

Fritzel’s approximately one-year sentence stems from two felony cases brought against him in 2018.

Fritzel pleaded guilty in January to one count of criminal conspiracy for scheming to collect fraudulent tax refunds from the city as part of his development of The Oread hotel. At Fritzel’s sentencing hearing on July 15 in U.S. District Court in Topeka, Judge Daniel Crabtree ruled to impose the agreed-upon sentence of 12 months and a day in federal prison and a fine of $25,000 plus interest.

Fritzel requested to serve his sentence at home because of the COVID-19 pandemic and concerns that he would be susceptible to the disease in prison. Crabtree declined at sentencing to issue a recommendation regarding that request, saying that was a decision that he believed should be up to the Federal Bureau of Prisons. The judge in the other felony case brought against Fritzel also subsequently declined to issue a recommendation regarding his home confinement request for the same reason.

If Fritzel were not allowed to serve his sentence at his Lawrence home, he requested to serve his sentence at the federal prison camp in Yankton. A 2009 Forbes article included it on its list of the country’s “10 Cushiest Prisons.”

In the other felony case brought against him, Fritzel was found guilty of three felonies related to illegal disposal of asbestos during a construction project at the former Alvamar Country Club, now known as the Jayhawk Club. Crabtree also ruled during the July sentencing hearing that Fritzel could serve his three-month sentence in that case concurrently with his sentence for criminal conspiracy, meaning Fritzel will serve a total of approximately 12 months for both cases instead of 15 months.