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Dara Daugherty Used Forced Labor in House-Flipping Scheme, City Says

Published

1 year ago

April 3, 2024

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Dara Daugherty isn’t just a slumlord, she’s also running a “fix and flip” operation that maintains low overhead by forcing people to work for free.

Those are among the new allegations against Daugherty and five family members and associates outlined in new court filings made by the City of St. Louis on Friday as part of a sprawling lawsuit initially filed in January. That suit accuses Daugherty and her crew of running an illegal rooming house operation.

In the most recent filings, attorneys for the city argue that a Tower Grove East property owned by Daugherty has been uniquely important to the fix-and-flip scheme. They are asking the judge to order her to immediately cease operations at the property and clean it up — and to stop impersonating city officials while they’re at it.

The latest filing says that Daugherty and company are attempting to flip some of the dozens of properties they own. But instead of hiring contractors or taking a DIY approach, they’re using impoverished tenants who “cannot pay rent in the usual way.” The city says these individuals are marginalized sex workers, veterans or people with disabilities or addictions who are “required” to work on Daugherty’s fixer-uppers.

This is where the house with the Dutch gambrel roof on Virginia Avenue comes into play. As the RFT detailed earlier this year, it’s a place around which the effects of Daugherty’s illegal rooming house scheme have been particularly acutely felt. The latest filings from the city say Daugherty had until recently used the home to house her ad-hoc, unpaid workforce. (As of this morning, neighbors of the property say no one is currently living there.)

Neighbors who came forward to the City Counselor’s Office in the wake of the initial suit being filed have described the treatment of the tenants on Virginia Avenue as akin to “indentured servitude” and “modern-day slavery,” the city’s legal filing says.

Neighbors have observed the house’s tenants being picked up early in the morning and then being returned late at night “exhausted and in pain.” Neighbors have also said that utilities have sometimes been turned off at the property as a punishment for the workers, who the city’s court filings say are sometimes paid in “small amounts of drugs.” click to enlarge Courtesy SLMPD A past booking photo of Dara Daugherty, who the City of St. Louis sued earlier this year for being part of a massive illegal operation.

And, as the RFT has reported regarding Daugherty’s tenants at other properties, the city alleges that people living at the Virginia Avenue house turned their government assistance money over to Daugherty. On Virginia, that’s in addition to having to the residents having to work for her.

The dilapidated state of the house caused “alarming risks to public health,” the city says, citing stagnant water, foul odors and rodents who burrowed into adjacent property, turning neighbors’ lawns into “Swiss cheese.”

The city’s latest filing asks a judge to issue a preliminary injunction forcing Daugherty and her associates to immediately stop using unpaid, coerced labor as well as to clean up the nuisances and sewage at the Virginia property. If the judge were to issue such an injunction, the Daughertys would have to comply with it even as their case continues to work its way through the courts.

Lawyers for the city are also asking the judge to order the Daughertys to stop impersonating city employees, which they allegedly did as recently as last Wednesday. The filing alleges that individuals dressed as municipal workers arrived at the Virginia Avenue house, pulled down the plywood that had been used to board up, removed appliances from the house, and drove away with them in a pickup truck. Those people, the filing says, were actually working for Daugherty.

The suit also alleges that, in the past month, Dara Daugherty’s erstwhile husband and co-defendant Keith Mack was seen at various properties involved in the rooming house scheme. “On March 4….Mack visited several properties in an apparent attempt to terrorize the tenants by banging on their doors, threatening them and screaming at them while brandishing a firearm,” the filings say.

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Fenton Man Charged in Sword Attack on Roommate

Published

1 year ago

May 22, 2024

Natural Bridge

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A warrant is out for a Fenton man’s arrest after he allegedly attacked his roommate with a sword.

Police say that on Sunday, Angelus Scott spoke openly about “slicing his roommate’s head” before he grabbed a sword, raised it up and then swung it down at the roommate.

The roommate grabbed Scott’s hand in time to prevent injury. When police arrived at the scene, they found the weapon used in the assault.

The sword in question was a katana, which is a Japanese sword recognizable for its curved blade.

This isn’t the first time a samurai-style sword has been used to violent effect in St. Louis. In 2018, a man hearing voices slaughtered his ex-boyfriend with a samurai sword. His mother said he suffered from schizoaffective disorder.

As for Scott, 35, the St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office was charged yesterday with two felonies, assault first degree and armed criminal action. The warrant for his arrest says he is to be held on $200,000 bond.

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Caught on Video, Sheriff Says He’s Ready to ‘Turn It All Over’ to Deputy

Published

1 year ago

May 22, 2024

Natural Bridge

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Video of St. Louis Sheriff Vernon Betts taken by a former deputy suggests that the sheriff has a successor in mind to hand the reins of the department over to, even as Betts is in an increasingly heated campaign for reelection.

“I ain’t here for all this rigmarole,” Betts says in the video while seated behind his desk at the Carnahan Courthouse. “The Lord sent me here to turn this department around and I’m doing the best I can and I think I’ve done a good job. I’ve got about eight months and I’m going to qualify for my fourth pension.”

He goes on, “Right now I can walk up out of here and live happily ever after and forget about all this…and live like a king.”

The sheriff then says his wife has been in Atlanta looking at houses and that the other deputy in the room, Donald Hawkins, is someone Betts has been training “to turn it all over to him.”

Asked about the video, Betts tells the RFT, “My future plans are to win reelection on August 6th by a wide margin and to continue my mission as the top elected law enforcement official to make St. Louis safer and stronger. Serving the people of St. Louis with integrity, honor and professional law enforcement qualifications is a sacred responsibility, and I intend to complete that mission.”

The video of Betts was taken by Barbara Chavers, who retired from the sheriff’s office in 2016 after 24 years of service. Chavers now works security at Schnucks at Grand and Gravois. Betts’ brother Howard works security there, too.

Chavers tells the RFT that she was summoned to Betts’ office last week after Betts’ brother made the sheriff aware that she was supporting Montgomery. It was no secret: Chavers had filmed a Facebook live video in which she said she was supporting Betts’ opponent Alfred Montgomery in the election this fall. “Make the judges safe,” she says in the video, standing in front of a large Montgomery sign on Gravois Avenue. “They need a sheriff who is going to make their courtrooms safe.”

In his office, even as Chavers made clear she was filming him, Betts told Chavers he was “flabbergasted” and “stunned” she was supporting Montgomery.

“I don’t know what I did that would make you go against the preacher man,” he says, referring to himself. He then refers to Montgomery as “ungodly.”

Betts goes on to say that not long ago, he was walking in his neighborhood on St. Louis Avenue near 20th Street when suddenly Montgomery pulled up in his car and, according to Betts, shouted, “You motherfucker, you this, you that. You’re taking my signs down.”

Montgomery tells the RFT that he’s never interacted with Betts outside of candidate forums and neighborhood meetings.

“I don’t think anyone with good sense would do something like that to a sitting sheriff,” Montgomery says.

Montgomery has had campaign signs missing and on at least two occasions has obtained video of people tearing them down. (Chavers notes that the sign that she filmed her original Facebook video in front of is itself now missing.)

One man who lives near Columbus Square says that he recently put out two Montgomery signs, which later went missing. “If they keep taking them, I’ll keep putting them up,” he said.

Betts says he has nothing to do with the missing signs. In the video Chavers filmed in Betts’ office, Betts says that his campaign isn’t in a spot where it needs to resort to tearing down opponents’ signs.

“If you sit here long enough, a man is getting ready to come across the street from City Hall bringing me $500, today,” Betts says. “I’m getting that kind of support. I don’t need to tear down signs.”

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St. Louis to Develop First Citywide Transportation Plan in Decades

Published

1 year ago

May 21, 2024

Natural Bridge

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The City of St. Louis is working to develop its first citywide mobility plan in decades, Mayor Tishaura Jones’ office announced Tuesday. This plan seeks to make it easier for everyone — drivers, pedestrians, bikers and public transit users — to safely commute within the city.

The plan will bring together other city projects like the Brickline Greenway, Future64, the MetroLink Green Line, and more, “while establishing new priorities for a safer, more efficient and better-maintained transportation network across the City,” according to the release.

The key elements in the plan will be public engagement, the development of a safety action plan, future infrastructure priorities and transportation network mapping, according to Jones’ office.

The overarching goals are to create a vision for citywide mobility, plan a mixture of short and long-term mobility projects and to develop improved communication tools with the public to receive transportation updates. In recent years, both people who use public transit and cyclists have been outspoken about the difficulties — and dangers — of navigating St. Louis streets, citing both cuts to public transit and traffic violence.

To garner public input and participation for the plan, Jones’ office said there will be community meetings, focus groups and a survey for residents to share their concerns. The city will also be establishing a Community Advisory Committee. Those interested in learning more should check out at tmp-stl.com/

“Everyone deserves to feel safe when getting around St. Louis, whether they’re driving, biking, walking or taking public transit,” Jones said in a news release. “Creating a comprehensive transportation and mobility plan allows us to make intentional and strategic investments so that moving around St. Louis for jobs, education, and entertainment becomes easier, safer and more enjoyable.”

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