THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, September 29, 1996 TAG: 9609290052
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY MASON PETERS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ELIZABETH CITY LENGTH: 47 lines
Frank H. Habit, a well-known Albemarle developer who has been ordered jailed for 10 days for disobeying a Superior Court judge's process ruling, promised Pasquotank County Sheriff Randy Cartwright on Saturday that he would be in court next week.
The sheriff has been looking for Habit since Thursday to carry out the jail sentence imposed by Judge J. Richard Parker.
``Mr. Habit called me late Friday and said he would be in Monday with his attorney, C. Glenn Austin,'' Cartwright said, adding that Habit told him he had been away from his Elizabeth City addresses for the past several days.
Austin said Saturday he had filed a motion in Pasquotank Superior Court that, if allowed by the court, would make it possible for Habit to avoid going to jail by ``purging'' himself of contempt of court.
Habit's troubles began two years ago when he sold two ``units'' of the real estate venture that he was then putting together. Dewey G. Copeland and his wife, Elizabeth Faye Copeland, said they gave Habit $12,000 and received assurances that the two ``units'' would make them partners in a real estate venture known as Plaza Associates Ltd.
Subsequently, the Copelands, of Elizabeth City, sued Habit and asked for a financial accounting of Plaza Associates. The court action required Habit to answer a list of financial questions.
Plaza Associates listed as its address a site near the old Continental grain elevators that Habit bought and tore down several years ago.
Judge Parker ruled that Habit had not carried out the court's specific instructions.
In a June 6 decision, Parker ordered Habit to comply in detail with the court's financial accounting instructions and also to pay $100 to cover court costs.
When Habit again failed to comply to Parker's satisfaction, the judge ordered the jail sentence for ``willful contempt'' and fined Habit $300 in costs.
Finally, on Sept. 20, Parker told the sheriff to arrest Habit and put him in the Tri-County Jail for 10 days. The paperwork didn't get to the sheriff's office until Thursday, and Cartwright had been looking for Habit ever since.
Earlier last week, Habit announced plans to build 50 new condominiums on the waterfront site where the grain elevators once stood.
Prices on the new condos will start at $160,000, Habit said. He built a cluster of nine similar condos just down the river about two years ago. by CNB