Mr. Lobe said that's hard to answer. It depends on the municipality's penalties. Where does a misdemeanor end and a felony begin? Citations would have been issued first and the owner of the property would be taken to court. Building Inspectors are officers of the court, and can testify in these matters. Failure to comply would lead to additional citations, shutting off of the utilities, contempt of court and possibly jail time, and the building would go through the condemnation process.
Because the building was being illegally (not as a warehouse) and it was a public safety matter, it would have been reason enough for the fire marshal to shut it down immediately.
Sorry this is a little jumbled, Mr. Lobe is telling me this over the phone and I'm trying to condense it. Also, the laws are different here apparently. If he knew how the lease read and what, specifically, the laws state there he could give us a better answer to all this.
TOh, he also said and I never thought about this, that "stealing" electricity in and of itself is a felony in most jurisdictions.