WASHINGTON, D.C. — A longtime Morgantown landlord has agreed to pay a $600,000 penalty and transfer the ownership of 70 rental properties, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Monday.
Gary Walden sexually harassed women who were renting from him and prospective tenants, in violation of the Fair Housing Act, the DOJ said.
Under the terms of the settlement, Walden, who served nearly two years in prison after pleading guilty in April 2015 to sexual abuse, will transfer the ownership of the properties and “relinquish his role in managing them,” according to the DOJ.
“It is unacceptable that a woman should have to endure sexual harassment by her landlord in her own home,” Acting Assistant Attorney General Tom Wheeler of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division said in a news release. “This settlement sends a strong message that the Civil Rights Division will aggressively pursue those who engage in this egregious conduct.”
The investigation against Walden began after four women filed complaints with the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). The original complaint said Walden “engaged in unwanted and unwelcome sex acts with female tenants, including touching and groping their breasts and genitals; conditioned tangible housing benefits to female tenants in exchange for performance of sex acts; made unwanted and unwelcome sexual comments and verbal sexual advances; entered the homes of female tenants without permission or notice to sexually harass them; and took or threatened to take adverse action against female tenants when they refused or objected to his sexual advances.”
According to the DOJ, the harassment occurred during a period from at least July 2006 through July 2015.
Authorities are asking anyone who thinks they may have been sexually harassed by Walden to contact the DOJ at 1-800-896-7743, mailbox 97, or by e-mail at fairhousing@usdoj.gov.