NEWPORT NEWS, Va. (WAVY) — A Hampton landlord was sentenced Wednesday 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 in Hampton. Many of Merryman’s rental properties were in poor condition and located in low-income neighborhoods to target underprivileged African Americans with limited credit and housing options.
From 2019 through at least January 2024, Merryman engaged in 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.
For example, a 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. On May 10, 2021, Meryman applied to the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development for approximately $15,100 in rent benefits for E.P. and forged her signature without her approval. 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.