ATHENS COUNTY, Ohio — Athens County landlord Kevin Martin agreed to settle a sexual harassment lawsuit brought by the U.S. Department of Justice last week, according to a DOJ press release.
Advocates say the lawsuit — the second sexual harassment suit brought by the DOJ against an Athens County landlord in one year — should prompt a “public conversation about predatory landlords” locally.
Under a proposed consent decree, Martin will pay $170,000, including $165,000 to women allegedly harmed by his behavior plus a $5,000 civil penalty. He will no longer be able to manage the rental properties he owns, with limited exceptions, and he will be required to hire a property manager to take over management duties.
“We are very pleased to see the victims of harassment get justice in this case, and appreciative of the DOJ’s commitment to investigating and aggressively enforcing fair housing and civil rights in Athens county,” said Legal Aid of Southeast and Central Ohio Managing Attorney Lucy Schwallie in an email. “Of course, we are also relieved that Athens County tenants will be safer as a result of the settlement.”
The proposed consent decree is pending court approval, according to the DOJ’s website.
Martin’s attorney did not immediately return a request for comment. Martin told the Independent in an email that he thinks “the conditions of the decree are ludicrous and not fair at all.” He said he primarily settled the case due to his health.
“I’m not in the mental or physical space to fight the Federal Government,” he said in an email.
The lawsuit
The lawsuit alleges Martin engaged in several behaviors constituting sexual harassment against actual or prospective female tenants, in violation of the Fair Housing Act.
The complaint says that Martin engaged in a pattern of “unwelcome sexual advances” toward a tenant for at least two years beginning in 2017. Martin had repeated “unwanted sexual contact” with the tenant in exchange for forgiving her rent, according to the complaint.
The complaint also details two incidents in which Martin allegedly groped women: one a prospective tenant and one an actual tenant.
These incidents were not isolated, but were instead part of a “longstanding pattern or practice of illegal sexual harassment of multiple actual and prospective female tenants from at least 2010 to at least 2020,” the complaint says.
According to the DOJ’s lawsuit, Martin’s pattern of behavior against actual and prospective female tenants included:
- Offering material housing benefits to tenants who had sex with him.
- Subjecting actual and prospective tenants to unwanted sexual touch.
- Entering or appearing outside tenants’ homes without permission or an apparent reason.
- Requesting sex from actual and prospective tenants.
- Demanding sex from tenants, should they want to keep their housing.
- “Taking adverse housing actions” against tenants who did not accept his sexual advances, including evicting or threatening to evict tenants.
“Pattern and practice cases, like the case against Martin, require extensive investigation and resources,” Shwallie told the Independent in an email. “We commend the DOJ staff committed to the fight for housing justice. Most importantly, we recognize the courageous victims who came forward and cooperated with the investigation. They are the true heroes in these cases.”
Asked about the allegations in the lawsuit, Martin disparaged the character of the women who came forward. He also claimed many people interviewed by the DOJ did not report abuse but that “the Department of Justice managed to scrape up enough content to make a civil rights lawsuit against me.” He said in a separate email that he did not have the opportunity to review “discovery or any evidence” in the case.
Martin has faced criminal charges related to sexual misconduct in the past. He was indicted on three counts of sexual imposition in 2004, though the case was later dismissed according to Athens County Court of Common Pleas records. In 2017, he also faced sexual imposition charges; he ultimately pleaded guilty to the reduced charge of persistent disorderly conduct, according to Athens County Municipal Court records.
A DOJ representative said the DOJ began investigating Martin “after receiving a complaint” but declined to comment further on the case.
Asked about her office’s involvement in the Kevin Martin lawsuit, Schwallie said in an email, “with client consent we have communicated with the Department of Justice regarding allegations of sexual harassment against Athens County residents.”
“When LASCO identifies a pattern of sexual harassment and the consent of its clients, we pursue justice for our clients aggressively. And that sometimes involves the Department of Justice,” Schwallie said.
Although the consent decree bars Martin from managing properties, the extent of his current property management is unclear. The lawsuit and consent decree each list several “subject properties.” However, Martin — who told the Independent he is dying of cancer — said he no longer manages many properties.
He said he has sold multiple subject properties on land contracts.
“I text 1 buyer about twice a month, the other buyer 1 time per month and the remaining buyer is my friend and helper,” Martin said in an email. “We see each other 3 to 5 times per week.”
The consent decree allows Martin limited contact with current tenants at two properties for the purposes of communicating about “Property Management Responsibilities” they are employed by Martin to perform.
Martin told the Independent in an email, “I rent 5015 St. Rt. 56 Athens and my workers does maintenance there as requested.”
“Long overdue” conversation on predatory landlords
This is the second DOJ lawsuit against an Athens County landlord over sexual harassment in just under a year. The first, against Joe Lucas and three of his family members, remains open; Lucas and his family members have all denied the allegations against them.
Schwallie said LASCO, with fair housing enforcement funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, began “identifying and investigating patterns of sexual harassment and other fair housing violations across southeast and central Ohio” in 2020.
“It is very difficult to identify patterns of fair housing violations without a fair housing center, like LASCO, dedicated to that effort,” Schwallie said in an email. “We knew fair housing violations were occurring, and we dedicated our work to identifying those violations and working to bring those to an end.”
Schwallie encouraged tenants who have “experienced housing discrimination, including sexual harassment, to call LASCO and talk to an attorney about their legal rights. There is never any cost for our services.”
The intake phone number for Legal Aid is 740-594-3558.
Damon Krane, a member of the tenant advocacy group United Athens County Tenants, told the Independent in an email, “These lawsuits underscore the need for elected officials in our county to pass and enforce stronger local tenant protections.”
Schwallie shared a similar sentiment: “A public conversation about predatory landlords has long been overdue.”
Krane referred to UACT’s advocacy in Athens and Chauncey to establish tenant protections for those paying rent with public assistance vouchers and to prevent eviction in situations when tenants can pay past-due rent.
Krane said eviction protections, passed by both Athens and Chauncey and known as ‘pay to stay,’ “make it harder for landlords to use the threat of eviction to extort sex from tenants.” Meanwhile, protections in Athens and Chauncey for voucher recipients make low income women “less vulnerable … to sexual predator landlords,” Krane said.
Krane called on other Athens County municipalities to establish similar protections. He also said municipalities could establish “meaningful penalties for unlawful entry” as an additional protection, and he called on the city of Athens to step up its code enforcement.
“UACT is always ready to not only hold accountable local politicians who do wrong by tenants, but to work in concert with local politicians who want to do right,” Krane said in an email.
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