Don Carmignani, who had many controversial headlines about him in the Bay Area, related to domestic abuse and violence with the unhoused, appears to now be causing concerns in Reno.
Official documents listing that name with another address linked to him on Magnolia Street in San Francisco have him as the new owner of 2090 Fife Drive in Reno, which is a lot listed as being sold for $200,000 in late 2024.
A neighbor who made the connection indicated to us he was having non permitted demolition work done, and that a stop worker order was issued on June 3rd on the recently purchased property.
The neighbor said all trees and structures had been demolished at the location on Fife Drive, while a temporary pole was put up “to hold up the electrical wires from the NV Energy drop… “ One trailer on site had Biltmore Construction marked on it. The website for that company currently indicates: “this website has been temporarily suspended due to non-payment.”
A Don Carmignani living at the same address on Magnolia Street as in the Washoe County documents was in the news when his ex-wife accused him of multiple incidents of domestic abuse, “including one in which she said he twisted her arm in an unprovoked attack,” according to reported testimony in a 2023 San Francisco Standard article.
The testimony was part of a trial related to a fight Carmignani, a commercial property developer who briefly served on the Fire Commission, had with an unhoused man, Garrett Doty, who faced assault and battery charges.
During the trial and in subsequent media reports, there were allegations Carmignani repeatedly attacked unhoused people living by his house, with some of these encounters on surveillance camera.
Previously in 2013, Carmignani had resigned from the San Francisco Fire Commission after being arrested in connection with an alleged domestic violence incident involving his then estranged wife.
In the 2023 trial, the unhoused man was found not guilty on all charges, while testimony indicated Carmignani was known to regularly use pepper spray or bear spray on unhoused people in and around the Marina District, allegations he and his lawyer denied.
In the case that went to trial, Doty had retaliated with strikes with a metal pipe.
Our Town Reno reporting, June 2025