What are the allegations against Dara Daugherty? Missouri woman and five others face lawsuit over illegally renting out condemned properties

A woman from Missouri, Dara Daugherty, and five of her associates are accused of illegally renting out condemned properties to vulnerable people. As per a lawsuit filed on Tuesday, January 16, 2024, by the city of St. Louis, the six residents were running a massive scam that involved 39 properties over at least nine of the city's neighborhoods.

The six defendants are accused of operating public nuisances and unjust enrichment. The lawsuit states:

"Defendants’ corrupt scheme to operate illegal rooming houses for profit throughout the city not only jeopardizes the safety and well-being of their tenants, it also interferes with the right to health, safety and peace of the public at large."

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The 57-page suit names Daugherty, her associates, and a dozen businesses registered under her name, that rented out a portion of homes that were unliveable and declared unsuitable for housing by the city.

Some of the properties were boarded up by the city and lacked running water and electricity. However, the defendants removed the boarding to lease out the spaces.

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The lawsuit states Dara Daugherty has 38 active warrants for her arrest stemming from building code violations

The scam involves Dara Daugherty renting out portions of the property including basements and garages at a low rent by "actively recruiting" "vulnerable and indigent" people from homeless shelters and food banks.

The lawsuit elaborated that Daugherty and her associates began buying dilapidated properties in 2007. They paid a very small price as these were "condemned."

Before leasing them out there were no improvements made, with several properties having rodents, bed bugs, and in some cases, no doors.

As per Investopedia, a condemned property is a property that is deemed unsafe or hazardous to inhabit by the city and therefore unlivable.

Additionally, despite having 38 active warrants stemming from building code violations and even occasionally being arrested, Dara told police that these brief stints in prison and then bonding out "are worth it" as she earns $40,000 a month from the rented properties.

When it is time to "kick out" the tenants, they would hire people to "impersonate City building inspectors" effectively making them leave stating that the home was condemned. Some times they evicted the tenants for not paying rent.

While the suit does not specify the number of tenants the 39 properties have been rented to, the lawsuit speculates the number to be in the hundreds. It also states that despite Dara Daugherty having no legal right to collect the rent from these tenants, she still sued them.

These homes were spread across nine neighborhoods in the city, namely, Carondelet, Dutchtown, Mount Pleasant, Benton Park, Benton Park West, Tower Grove East, Cheltenham, Gravois Park, and the Patch.

According to Riverfront Times, in addition to Dara Daugherty, Keith Mack, Dack Daugherty, Daniel Mcafee (a.k.a. Daniel Daugherty), Steven Heinrichs, and Joseph Witthaus, too were named in the lawsuit.

In addition to preying on vulnerable people, Dara and her associates have been accused of letting these properties become a crime haven. The suit elaborated on the hundreds of times police were called for overdoses, shootings, prostitution, drugs, kidnappings, and carjackings.

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Dara Daugherty has not issued any statements regarding the accusations. A hearing date is yet to be set.