Dara Dougherty is not only a slum landlord, but also runs a “fix it up and resell” business, keeping costs down by employing people for free.
Those are some of the new charges against Dougherty and five family members and associates outlined in new court documents filed Friday by the city of St. Louis as part of a broader lawsuit first filed in January that accuses Dougherty and her associates of running an illegal rooming house.
In their latest filing, city lawyers allege that a property owned by Dougherty in Tower Grove East was particularly important to the renovation and resale scheme. They want a judge to order Dougherty to immediately stop operating from the property, clean it up, and stop impersonating city employees while he's at it.
The latest allegations are that Dougherty and his associates are trying to resell some of the dozens of properties he owns. But rather than hiring contractors or taking a DIY approach, they're using poor tenants who “cannot pay rent through normal means.” The city says these people are marginalized sex workers, veterans, or people with disabilities or drug addictions, and that they are “obliged” to renovate Dougherty's renovated properties.
That's where the Dutch-gabled house on Virginia Street comes in. As RFT detailed earlier this year, it's a place where the impact of Dougherty's illegal rooming house scheme has been felt especially hard. According to the latest city filings, Dougherty has been using the house as housing for temporary, unpaid workers until recently. (As of this morning, neighbors of the house said no one currently lives there.)
Neighbors who came forward to the councilman's office after the initial lawsuit was filed said the treatment of Virginia Street residents is akin to “indentured servitude” and “modern-day slavery,” according to city legal documents.
Neighbors have reported seeing residents of the home being picked up early in the morning and returning late at night “exhausted and in pain,” and they say the property's utilities are sometimes cut off as punishment for workers, who are sometimes paid with “small amounts of drugs,” according to city court documents.
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Courtesy of SLMPD
An old arrest warrant photo of Dara Daugherty, who was sued by the City of St. Louis earlier this year for allegedly engaging in large-scale illegal activities.
And as RFT has reported about tenants at Dougherty's other properties, the city alleges that residents of the Virginia Avenue home passed on government assistance money to Dougherty, in addition to requiring them to work for her.
City officials say the home's deterioration poses “serious public health risks,” citing stagnant water, foul odors and rats burrowing into adjacent property, turning neighbors' lawns into “Swiss cheese.”
The city's latest motion asks a judge to issue a preliminary injunction requiring Dougherty and his associates to immediately stop unpaid forced labor and clean up filth and wastewater on Virginia property. If a judge issues such an injunction, the Doughertys would have to comply with it while the case continues.
City lawyers are also asking a judge to order the Doughertys to stop impersonating city employees last Wednesday. According to the lawsuit, people posing as city employees went to the Virginia Street home, ripped up plywood boards, took appliances from the house and left in a pickup truck. The people were actually working for Dougherty, the lawsuit says.
The complaint also alleges that over the past month, Dara Dougherty's ex-husband and co-defendant Keith Mack had visited various properties connected to the rooming house scheme. “On March 4, Mack visited several properties and appeared to be attempting to intimidate the tenants by banging on doors, making threats and yelling while brandishing a gun,” the complaint states.
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