A 59-year-old Virginia man was sentenced to nearly two decades in prison for using racial slurs against Black tenants and stealing their identities to obtain COVID relief funds.
David L. Merryman, who owned over 60 rental properties in Newport News and Hampton, will serve 17 years in prison for wire fraud, aggravated identity theft, and race-based interference with housing and employment.
The properties were mostly in low-income neighborhoods, and he primarily rented to poor Black tenants who had no other place to live, according to a press release from the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia.
The homes were in poor condition, with holes in the ceilings and walls, leaks, and rodent activity, among other problems, according to prosecutors.
Merryman, who is white, also harassed and insulted his tenants, defrauding them by forcing them to pay multiple security deposits. He accepted the money but never completed the necessary repairs.
In October 2022, he rented a home to a Black man with no working stove or refrigerator and a hole in the bathroom tub. Merryman promised to resolve the issues and charged a “initial deposit” of $1,000 and a “move-in deposit” of $1,600 about two weeks later, according to the indictment.
He then requested that the man pay a “combination of rent/deposit” of $1,150. When the tenant asked Merryman to fix the problems, the landlord said, “You people, man, it’s always the Black ones who have the problem moving in.”
Then, in February 2023, Merryman and a group of men entered the property’s backyard 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, and the man reached behind his back, as if armed, according to the affidavit. Merryman waved the brick around as he left, saying “you Black motherf—ers” and yelling “f—ing n—ers, f—ing n—ers.”
Prosecutors said Merryman followed the pattern of “fraudulently obtaining large initial payments in the form of security deposits, prepaid rent, and other fees for rental homes that were in poor repair” between 2019 and January.
He would then try to evict them “as quickly as possible” so that he could repeat the process with new tenants.
“David Merryman deliberately targeted families of color with limited means and housing options.” Jessica D. Aber, the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, stated in a press release.
“Landlords have a legal obligation to protect the housing rights and human dignity of those to whom they rent. Mr. Merryman failed to meet that responsibility and is now paying a high price for racial discrimination and fraud.”
During the pandemic, when federal and state lawmakers released renter relief funds, prosecutors claimed Merryman forged the signatures of some of his tenants to pocket the money.
He then evicted or threatened to evict the same individuals. In one case, a tenant had faithfully paid her rent from 2015 until she was laid off in 2021 after being hospitalized for medical reasons.
Merryman forged the woman’s signature on an application for rent relief benefits from the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development worth approximately $15,100.
While the woman was still in the hospital, Merryman evicted her and had a crew throw away all of her belongings inside the house before towing 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 targeted tenants with few rental options, but he also harassed them racially and subjected them to substandard living conditions. His victims were frequently mothers and fathers who simply wanted to keep a roof over their children’s heads.”
