David Merryman is accused by federal prosecutors of subjecting his black tenants to violence and racial slurs.
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A Virginia landlord faces federal fraud and civil rights charges for allegedly instilling fear in his black tenants.
Landlord David Merryman, 58, owns more than 60 rental properties and a landscaping company in Hampton and Newport News, Virginia. Federal prosecutors have accused him of assaulting his tenants, threatening violence and using racial slurs, and of defrauding the federal government of rent relief benefits and public housing subsidies.
of indictmentThe document, which was unsealed last week, describes several incidents in which Merryman made graphic threats of racist violence against tenants, as well as that he beat one tenant with a shovel and threatened another tenant with a gun. Incidents in which Merryman carried out his threats are detailed, including an incident in which Merryman carried out his threats. Chainsaw.
One example of Mr. Merryman’s use of racial slurs was when sewage backed up into a female tenant’s home. Merryman allegedly said it was “probably her textiles” and told her tenants to “clean the house like you did when you were a slave.”
When another resident asked Merryman to fix a broken air conditioner, Merryman replied, “You should be used to that kind of thing. You’re black, so you could use some relief from the heat.” The indictment states:
Merryman is also accused of defrauding the government and its tenants. One of his alleged schemes involved making false claims to the Department of Housing and Urban Development about the condition of his property in order to receive housing assistance payments. Another man was seen forging tenants’ signatures, stealing their identities and submitting fraudulent applications for rental assistance during the COVID-19 pandemic. . While Merryman collected large relief checks, he also evicted some of the tenants he allegedly defrauded of unpaid rent.
Prosecutors allege Merryman continued to visit tenants demanding large advances and deposits that he had no intention of repaying. He also regularly received money and property from tenants under false pretenses to reimburse them for repairs they had made or paid to their property.
This is not the first time the landlord has faced federal lawsuits. He was arrested in 2022 for failing to comply with a judge’s order after being ordered to pay about $46,000 in unpaid wages and damages to his landscaping company.
Merryman is charged with 10 counts of wire fraud, four counts of interference with housing rights, six counts of theft of government funds, and four counts of aggravated identity theft. If convicted, she faces a minimum sentence of two years in prison for each aggravated identity theft charge and a maximum sentence of one to 20 years for the other charges.
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