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Illegal Rooming House Operation Preyed on Hundreds of Desperate St. Louisans | St. Louis

Published

9 months ago

January 16, 2024

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click to enlarge Courtesy SLMPD A booking photo of Dara Daugherty, who the City of St. Louis sued today for being part of a massive illegal operation.

The city of St. Louis today dropped a bombshell of a lawsuit against six Missouri residents who the city says are running a massive illegal rooming house operation involving 39 properties spanning at least nine south city neighborhoods.

Attorneys with the City Counselor’s Office say that Dara Daugherty and five other named defendants prey on vulnerable people by renting out portions of homes that are condemned or otherwise not permitted to be run as rooming houses.

For these small areas, the renters pay between $500 and $1,000, usually in cash. Many of the rooms lack running water, heat or electricity.

In some cases the city has boarded up the properties, but the illegal landlords allegedly remove the boards and continue to rent out space inside.

Though the suit does not specify how many tenants Daugherty and the others rented to, with discrete spaces in 39 properties being rented out over multiple years, the number is almost certainly in the hundreds. The suit notes that though Daugherty had no legal right to collect rent from them, she still sued for nonpayment.

Filed in St. Louis Circuit Court, the 57-page lawsuit also accuses Keith Mack, Dack Daugherty, Daniel Mcafee (who also goes by Daniel Daugherty), Steven Heinrichs and Joseph Witthaus as being part of the operation. All are Missouri residents. Dara Daughetry resides in Brentwood, Mack in the city, Witthaus in Imperial. All are accused of operating public nuisances and unjust enrichment.

The 39 properties operated by the defendants have been the sites of shootings, carjackings, stabbings, carjackings, fights and even a kidnapping. “Daugherty turns a blind eye to rampant drug use at the Properties, and multiple suspected overdose deaths have occurred at the Properties as a result,” the suit says.

The lawsuit says that Dara Daugherty has had as many as 38 active warrants for her arrest stemming from building code violations. But even though she is occasionally arrested, she has told police that the brief stints she spends in jail before bonding out “are worth it” because the properties bring in $40,000 a month.

According to the suit, Daugherty finds new tenants by actively recruiting “vulnerable and indigent” people from homeless shelters and food banks. She then rents areas of properties including basements, garages and “other areas that do not meet minimum standards for occupancy as habitable space,” the suit says.

When it is time to kick out the tenants, the suit says that Daugherty hires other people to “impersonate City building inspectors,” go into the property and kick everyone out, telling them that it has been condemned.

The lawsuit says that Daugherty and the five others began buying these properties in 2007, paying very little for them because they were condemned. Prior to renting the properties out, they made little or no improvements, the suit says. Bed bugs and rodents are common in the properties, and many of the units lack doors that lock.

The Daughertys’ operation spans at least nine south city neighborhoods. The lawsuit goes into detail on the issues that have stemmed from properties in Carondelet, Dutchtown, Mount Pleasant, Benton Park, Benton Park West, Tower Grove East, Cheltenham, Gravois Park and the Patch.

A two-story brick home on Jefferson Avenue in the Benton Park West neighborhood was bought by AAA Sunshine, an LLC owned by Daugherty, in 2014 for $15,500. Since then, the suit says, two people have been stabbed there and two people have died suspiciously in what were likely overdoses. The suit says the property in general has been a “haven for illegal drug use and criminal activity.

In the Patch neighborhood, AAA Sunshine bought a two-story vinyl-sided home on Virginia Avenue for $39,000 in 2020. In the three years since, the suit says, the police have been called there 28 times for reports of burglary, shots fired, harassment and other crimes. At one point, the city condemned and boarded up the property, but Daugherty or her associates removed the boards and continued to rent it out.

In 2013, AAA Sunshine bought a two-family flat on Michigan avenue in the Mount Pleasant neighborhood for $9,100. The city condemned it in 2020, but Daugherty continued to rent out portions of it, including its basement. In less than a one-year time span, police responded to it 22 times for assaults, overdoses, weapons violations and a kidnapping.

Daugherty listed her late mother as the owner of at least one of the properties. An LLC associated with the scheme is registered at a fake address in Sullivan, Missouri.

Daugherty is currently facing one felony charge of burglary for allegedly stealing from a residence on the 7200 block of Pennsylvania in October. That residence is near several others she owns.

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Fenton Man Charged in Sword Attack on Roommate

Published

5 months 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

5 months 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

5 months 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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