HAMPTON, Va. — A local landlord has been charged and indicted for fraud, threats and civil rights violations.
Court documents say, 58-year-old David Merryman used threats and made racist comments to tenants.
Merryman owns more than 60 rental properties on the peninsula.
He was arrested and charged with interfering with housing rights, aggravated identity theft and theft of government money.
The indictment lists four tenants, as well as a local businessman, as victims.
Court documents also say he made threats of force to Black tenants.
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One tenant told News 3's Leondra Head it was heartbreaking to be called the "N word" by her landlord.
"It was a nightmare," Samantha Feeley, a former tenant of Merryman, said. "He was the slumlord from hell."
Feeley said Merryman was her landlord for about a year in Hampton. She said she fell behind on rent during the pandemic and says Merryman sent her a text with racial slurs.
"He called me a N**** lover and told me that I didn’t pay my bills like other White people do," Feeley said. "I had Black roommates so that was a problem with him."
Heather Burchett has been living in a Hampton home owned by Merryman for about a year and says she pays $1,500 a month for rent.
"If you look at that window, there’s window seal and there’s never been one," Burchett said. "Mice come in through there, and cold air constantly comes through."
She said she stopped paying rent when things in the house went unfixed. Burchett said she has a court scheduled mediation with Merryman for their lease agreement next week.
"The stove is duck tapped at the top and this is falling off," Burchett said.
Burchett said on cold nights, she's left shivering throughout the house.
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"When I moved in, he told me that the HVAC system did not work and that he was going to get it fixed," Burchett said. "The first couple of months I paid rent, I kept asking him about it."
Court documents say that Merryman defrauded his tenants using their identity to get thousands of dollars in rent relief benefits.
Something Feely says happened to her without her knowing.
"He used my signature to apply for rent relief funds during the pandemic," Feely said she found out a year after her name and signature were miused. "I gave my signature to the FBI agents and from there they could tell I wasn’t the one that applied."
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At another one of Merryman’s rental properties in Newport News, 24-year old Felix Marigalono showed the News 3 crew through the house he rents out for $1,500 a month. Marigalono showed a partially caved in roof and damaged floors.
He said there is no HVAC system in the house and says he has to use space heaters to keep warm.
Marigalono doesn’t speak English and the News 3 crew used a translator to communicate with him.
"He tells me that he is always gonna come fix it, but he doesn't," Marigalono said.
Marigalono says the shower does not work.
"I bathe with a bucket," Marigalono said.
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Merryman is also being charged with wire fraud, threats to injure, theft of government money, making false statements to the housing department and aggravated identity theft.
We reached out to Merryman requesting a jailhouse interview to hear his side. We are waiting to hear back from him.
Merryman was previously arrested in 2022 for denying employees minimum wage through his maintenance company, Merryman Grounds Maintenance Inc.
