A 59-year-old property owner in Virginia, David L. Merryman, was sentenced to 17 years in prison for an appalling mix of wire fraud, aggravated identity theft, and racially motivated harassment.
Merryman, a white man, owned over 60 rental properties in Newport News and Hampton. His tenants were primarily Black families in low-income areas with few, if any, other housing options. These weren’t just homes in disrepair—they were uninhabitable.
Thinkcaved in ceilings, rodent infestations and poor plumbing.
Merryman wasn’t just a slumlord; he was a bully. Prosecutors say he routinely lobbed racial slurs at his tenants, forced them to pay bogus deposits and then pocketed the money without carrying out te repairs.
In one case, a Black tenant rented a home with a broken stove, a refrigerator that didn’t work and a bathroom tub with a hole in it. Merryman promised to fix the problems—insisting that the tenant hand over $1,000 as an “initial deposit” and $1,600 for a “move-in deposit.” Two weeks later, Merryman demanded an additional $1,150, calling the payment a “combination of rent and deposit.”
“You people, man, it’s always the Black ones that got to have the problem moving in,” Merryman responded when he was later confronted about failing to carry out the repairs.
Just months later, Merryman and a group of men barged onto the tenant’s property unannounced, and when confronted, Merryman threatened the man with a brick and asked one of his companions if he had a gun. As he left, Merryman spewed racial slurs, screaming, “You Black motherf—ers” and “f—ing n—ers.”
Merryman’s cruelty wasn’t limited to harassment. Prosecutors say that during the COVID-19 pandemic, Merryman forged his tenant’s signatures to steal thousands of dollars in relief money—only to have them evicted or, at least, threaten to have them evicted.
In one case, a tenant who had paid her rent faithfully for years lost her job in 2021 due to a medical emergency. Merryman forged her signature to collect $15,100 in relief funds. and while she was still in the hospital, he evicted her, threw out all of her belongings and had her car towed.
“David Merryman deliberately targeted families of color with limited means and housing options. Landlords have a responsibility under the law to uphold the housing rights and protect the human dignity of the people to whom they rent. Mr. Merryman failed to uphold that responsibility and is paying a heavy price for his racial discrimination and fraud,” Jessica D. Aber, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, said in a statement.
Brian Dugan, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Norfolk Field Office, added, “For years, David Merryman used his position of power as a landlord and his tenants’ economic vulnerability to make a profit. His victims were oftentimes mothers or fathers who just wanted to keep a roof over their family’s head.”
Seventeen years in prison.
That’s the sentence Merryman will serve for his cruel, predatory actions. Merryman’s case is another startling reminder of the systemic inequities in housing and the unchecked power that some landlords wield over some of society’s most vulnerable citizens.
