Virginia landlord sentenced to 17 years for defrauding and harassing Black tenants

David L. Merryman, a 59-year-old Virginia man, was sentenced to 17 years in prison for harassing African American tenants and stealing their identities to obtain COVID relief funds.

Merryman, who owned more than 60 rental properties in Newport News and Hampton, Va. was convicted for wire fraud, aggravated identity theft, and race-based interference with housing and employment.

David Merryman’s fraud scheme

From 2019 through at least January 2024, Merryman engaged in an elaborate scheme that included defrauding tenants, obtaining rent relief benefits to which he was not entitled, as well as fraudulently obtaining large initial payments in the form of security deposits, prepaid rent, and other fees for rental homes that were in poor condition, authorities said in a press release.

He then would try to evict them “as quickly as possible” so he could hatch the same scheme with new tenants.

The properties were mostly located in low income areas and he primarily rented to Black tenants who had nowhere else to live, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia said in a press release.

The homes were in deplorable conditions with holes in the ceilings and walls, leaks and rodent activity, among other issues, according to prosecutors.

Harassment

Merryman, who is white, also harassed his tenants and hurled racial insults at them while defrauding them.

For example, in October 2022, he rented a home to a Black man that had no working stove or refrigerator and a bathroom tub that had a hole in it. Merryman promised he would fix the problems and charged an “initial deposit” of $1,000 and a “move-in deposit” of $1,600 about two weeks later, the indictment said.

He then demanded more money, requiring the man to pay a “combination of rent/deposit” of $1,150. But when the tenant requested Merryman to fix the issues, the landlord responded “you people, man, it’s always the Black ones that got to have the problem moving in”.

The harassment continued.

In February 2023, Merryman and a group of men walked into the backyard of this tenant’s property unannounced. When the tenant confronted Merryman, he became angry. The landlord threatened the man with a brick. Merryman then asked one of the men he was with if he had a gun on him and the man reached behind his back as if he were armed, the affidavit said. As he was leaving, Merryman waved the brick around and said “you Black motherf—ers” and yelled “f—ing n—ers, f—ing n—ers.”

David Merryman’s COVID fraud

During the COVID pandemic, when relief funds were released for renters, prosecutors said Merryman forged the signatures of some of his tenants so he could pocket the cash. He then evicted or threatened to evict those very same people.

For example, a tenant had faithfully paid her rent from 2015 until she was laid off from her job in 2021 after she was hospitalized for medical problems.

Merryman forged the woman’s signature on an application to Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development to receive about $15,100 in rent relief benefits. While the woman was still in the hospital, Merryman evicted her and had a crew throw away all of her belongings inside the house and towed her car.

“For years, David Merryman used his position of power as a landlord and his tenant’s economic vulnerability to make a profit,” Brian Dugan, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Norfolk Field Office, said in a statement.

“He not only sought out tenants with few housing options to rent, but then continued to racially harass and subject them to unsuitable living conditions. His victims were oftentimes mothers or fathers who just wanted to keep a roof over their family’s head.”