A Virginia landlord is facing federal charges on allegations of defrauding the government and his tenants while also subjecting them to discriminatory behavior.
David Merryman, owner of 60 properties in Newport News and Hampton, is also accused of using threats, racially offensive language, and physical force against them. His indictment includes four tenants, a businessman, and a local city official.
Officials alleged the 58-year-old made comments against Black renters, some referencing slavery and Black Lives Matter. According to the Department of Justice, he hit one of the tenants in the face with a shovel and wielded a detached chainsaw blade against another.
The December 2022 attack was against a man identified as J.P. — a tenant at a single-family home in Hampton who wanted Merryman to fix his water heater, per the indictment. When he first moved into the property just a few months before, J.P. noticed it was “infested” with cockroaches, lacked appliances, and had black mold. When he reached out about the promised repairs prior to his arrival, Merryman allegedly called J.P., who is married to a Black woman, a n****r lover.
A Black man, listed as G.G. in the indictment, also noticed an array of issues when he moved into his home in October 2022. Similar to J.P., Merryman allegedly said he was going to fix the issues when he signed the lease and requested payments ahead of time.
G.G. sent several payments through Cash App, and when he asked about the repairs, Merryman allegedly said: “You people, man, it’s always the Black ones that got to have the problem with moving in,” according to court documents. On two separate occasions, Merryman pretended he was going to shoot him with a gun.
Another former tenant, Samantha Feely, called him “the slumlord from hell” and described her experience as “a nightmare” during an interview with WTKR. When Feely couldn’t pay her rent on time amid the COVID-19 pandemic, she received a disturbing text from him.
“He called me a N****r lover and told me that I didn’t pay my bills like other white people do,” she told the outlet. “I had Black roommates, so that was a problem with him.”
Federal officials claimed he carried out a scheme to get over on his tenants during the pandemic by using their identities and signatures without their permission on government rent-relief applications and collecting the funds without their knowledge. Simultaneously, he is accused of trying to evict them for failing to make their payments during this time.
“He used my signature to apply for rent relief funds during the pandemic,” Feely said to the news station. “I gave my signature to the FBI agents, and from there, they could tell I wasn’t the one that applied.”
Per the DOJ, Merryman allegedly lied about the conditions of his properties “to obtain housing assistance payments” from the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Merryman was charged with multiple counts of wire fraud, aggravated identity theft, theft of government money, interfering with housing rights, making false statements to the HUD, and interstate communications with threats to injure, officials said.
Other tenants have highlighted the conditions inside their homes, including damaged windows, roofs, floors and no functioning HVAC systems.
Renter Felix Marigalono told WTKR that he doesn’t have a working shower, and Merryman has also given him the runaround for repairs.
“I bathe with a bucket,” Marigalono said.
Merryman is also facing a lawsuit filed by tenants, primarily Black and female, regarding the “horrific” treatment. Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring led the 2021 suit, marking the first case that was filed under a new systemic discrimination provision in the state’s Fair Housing Law. It seeks $8 million in compensation for tenants, citing an “alarming pattern of abusive, racist, sexist, and otherwise unlawful behavior” by Merryman.
