NEWPORT NEWS, Va. – A Hampton man was sentenced today to 17 years in prison for wire fraud, aggravated identity theft, and race-based interference with housing and employment.
According to court documents, David L. Merryman, 59, owned 39 rental properties in Newport News and 23 more in Hampton. Many of Merryman’s rental properties were in poor condition and located in low-income neighborhoods. He primarily rented the properties to underprivileged African American tenants with limited credit and housing options.
From 2019 through at least January 2024, Merryman engaged in a multifaceted scheme that included 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 repair. Merryman represented to prospective tenants that he would lease the rentals for longer tenancy terms but intended to evict them as quickly as possible to restart the cycle of fraud and collect more high initial payments from new tenants.
“David Merryman deliberately targeted families of color with limited means and housing options.” said Jessica D. Aber, U.S. Attorney for the Easter District of Virginia. “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 for racial discrimination and fraud.”
“For years, David Merryman used his position of power as a landlord and his tenant’s economic vulnerability to make a profit,” said Brian Dugan, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Norfolk Field Office. “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. We’re thankful for today’s sentence which showcases the serious nature of these types of offenses, as well as the FBI’s commitment to investigating the perpetrators of these crimes.”
“Merryman specifically sought to rent his derelict properties to vulnerable minority tenants, and then subjected them to abhorrent racial discrimination and other abusive conduct,” said Rae Oliver Davis, Inspector General for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. “His criminal actions were in repulsive disregard for both the law and well-being of his low-income tenants. Today’s sentencing stops his cycle of fraud and abuse and brings Mr. Merryman to justice.”
On several occasions, Merryman harassed his minority tenants with slurs, comments about slavery, mocking comments, death threats, and assaultive conduct related to their race, all in violation of their right to occupy and lease a dwelling free from racially motivated harassment, threats, and force. He also interfered with at least one victim’s right to enjoy employment free from racial threats and assaultive conduct.
Merryman fabricated lease documents, often with incorrect information related to the tenants, and backdated documents before forging tenants’ signatures and falsely representing that he was authorized to act on their behalf.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, state and federal governments made rent relief benefits available to those struggling during the national health crisis. Merryman filed fraudulent rent relief applications and used his tenants' names and personal information without their consent and forged their signatures. In many cases, he obtained significant sums of rent relief without telling the tenants, even evicting, or seeking to evict, the very same tenants for unpaid rent. To obtain housing-assistance payments from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Merryman also made false representations about the condition of his rental properties and whether he was receiving other payments that would be duplicative of federally funded rental assistance.
Merryman also defrauded tenants by obtaining money and property from them under false pretenses, primarily through false representations that he would repair his properties to induce tenants to pay significant upfront fees for neglected, even uninhabitable, properties that he never intended to improve.
For example, a tenant, identified as L.G., made requests for necessary repairs to the home she was renting, to which Merryman repeatedly made racially derogatory responses. In April 2019, Merryman threatened to turn L.G. and her children into “potting soil.” L.G. obtained a protective order against Merryman, who then responded by, among other things, parking his vehicle just outside the prohibited radius of the order and intimidating L.G. and her family.
Another tenant, identified as E.P., regularly paid Merryman rent from 2015 until she was laid off from her job in 2021 during the pandemic after suffering medical problems resulting in her hospitalization. On May 10, 2021, Merryman applied to the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development for approximately $15,100 in rent relief benefits for E.P. and forged her signature, all without her consent. Despite obtaining those benefits for E.P., Merryman evicted her, citing her unpaid rent. E.P. then lost all her belongings when Merryman sent a crew to remove them from her home and tow her car when she was hospitalized.
After Merryman failed to complete a driveway construction project, the customer hired a concrete construction business owner, identified as E.S., to finish the job. E.S. had worked in the concrete construction business for more than 40 years. On July 8, 2020, shortly after E.S. finished the project, he received a call from Merryman, who repeatedly threatened him. E.S. obtained a protective order against Merryman, after which, in March 2021, Merryman came to a different jobsite where E.S. was working to intimidate him and his team.
Assistant U.S. Attorney D. Mack Coleman, Julie D. Podlesni, and Brian J. Samuels prosecuted the case.
A copy of this press release is located on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia. Related court documents and information are located on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia or on PACER by searching for Case No. 4:24-cr-4.