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Illegal Rooming Houses Avoided Inspections by Including Utilities | St. Louis

Published

2 years ago

January 20, 2024

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click to enlarge RYAN KRULL One of the illegal rooming houses Dara Daugherty is accused of running in a lawsuit filed by the city is in Benton Park West.

The individuals running a years-long, illegal rooming house operation appear to have been enabled in part by the way the city handles occupancy inspections for rental properties, a system that city officials say they hope to begin the process of reforming.

This week saw the city of St. Louis drop a bombshell of a lawsuit against Dara Daugherty, Keith Mack, four other people and a whole host of LLCs they control. The city says in the lawsuit that the individuals rented out rooms in south city homes that had been condemned and weren’t legally habitable — and that they preyed on the city’s most vulnerable, with new tenants being allegedly recruited from homeless shelters and food banks. In some cases, the conditions these tenants lived in were sub-human.

The lawsuit says that Daugherty and the others involved in the scheme began buying the properties in 2007.

One of the reasons their scheme persisted so long may have to do with the way the city handles occupancy inspections, a system that is more onerous for law-abiding, ethical landlords than it is for those with fewer scruples.

That’s because a city needs to issue an occupancy permit for a unit any time a new tenant moves in. But that inspection is triggered when the utilities change hands — and if the utilities never change hands, an inspector has no reason to check things out unless a landlord or a neighbor proactively summons them.

That’s why with so many slumlord operations, utilities are “included” in the rent. The utilities stay in the name of the landlord or their LLC, no matter how many people move in and out of their properties.

That seems to be the case for Daugherty and her associates.

Chris Day tells the RFT that for six months in 2022 he rented a basement on Hamburg Avenue from Mack. Day says that the space only had one outlet on a wall that would get soaked every time it rained. “He was never supposed to rent that basement,” Day says.

Naturally, the utilities were included in the rent, and Day says Mack tried to keep those costs as low as possible.

“He put a little box over the thermostat so nobody could get to it,” says Day.

Another tenant living on Louisiana Avenue in Tower Grove East said that he was renting a room in a house along with six other people and that Daugehrty takes care of the utilities. He didn’t want to give his name.

Previously, in response to the RFT’s questions about substandard conditions at a different apartment complex, St. Louis Board of Aldermen President Megan Green says the board planned to soon address multiple issues surrounding housing in the city, including lack of inspections in rental units.

“We know that a number of problematic landlords will include utilities in rent. It’s the changeover in utilities that triggers the city to do an occupancy inspection,” Green told the RFT in September. “We’re working on closing that loophole and requiring inspections so landlords can’t get around that.”

About the recent revelations of the Daugherty slum empire operating out of dozens of condemned homes, Green said, “This situation is tragic in that vulnerable people were exploited by a predatory landlord and now face homelessness. It underscores the need for the rental registry program which would accurately track property ownership and give the City a way to bring landlords like Daugherty into compliance.”

That rental registry program would be established by a bill introduced in December by Ward 7 Alderwoman Alisha Sonnier, which would require rental units to register with the city.

However, even if Sonnier’s bill became law, the city would still rely on the change in utilities to trigger an inspection

Yusuf Daneshyar, a spokesman for Green’s office, says that although that is the case, a rental registry program would be a big step in enabling the city to understand which landlords are in compliance with the law and which aren’t. That data could be used to make the case for more building inspectors in the city’s Building Division. That division appears to have approximately 18 vacant inspector positions, according to data made available to the Board of Aldermen last month.

“There has been interest in creating a regular occupancy inspection process, say every three years, but implementing that policy isn’t feasible given the Building Division’s current capacity,” Daneshyar said.

Any change would be a long time coming.

Brendan Lambert tells the RFT that he rented from the Daughertys in Tower Grove East a decade ago, from 2013 to 2014, settling on a room of hers in a Louisiana Avenue house after declining a spot in a larger building that was without a roof.

“I was like, ‘You ain’t got no roof on that bitch. That’s a tarp,'” he recalls telling her.

Of the utilities situation in the room he did end up renting, Lambert says, “They were adamant no one ever contact the utility companies. No internet. No cable. No one.”

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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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