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An Athens County landlord and property manager has agreed to pay $170,000 and stop managing his properties after federal prosecutors sued him for sexually harassing and abusing his female tenants over a period of more than a decade.
The U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division accused 71-year-old Kevin Martin in its lawsuit of making unwanted comments, forcing tenants and potential tenants to engage in unwanted touching, and forcing tenants who were behind on rent or had threatened eviction to perform sexual acts.
Martin has agreed to pay $165,000 to former tenants and applicants he harmed, as well as a $5,000 civil penalty, as part of a settlement that still needs to be approved by a U.S. district judge. The Justice Department announced the agreement last week.
According to the Justice Department, the settlement also prohibits Martin from managing residential rental properties in perpetuity, requires him to hire a manager for the properties he owns, and requires training and measures to prevent future discrimination.
“For over a decade, this landlord sexually harassed and degraded women who simply sought the stability and security that comes with having a roof over their heads,” Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division said in a statement. “The Justice Department will continue to hold landlords accountable when they target and exploit vulnerable tenants and applicants.”
Neither federal nor state authorities have charged Martin with crimes related to the Justice Department’s allegations of sexual misconduct.
In 2017, Athens County Sheriff’s officials arrested Martin on sexual assault charges. He pleaded guilty to repeated disturbing the peace and received no jail time.
The crimes he is accused of occurred between 2010 and 2020, according to the Justice Department. Martin owned several properties, including in Athens, Nelsonville and The Plains.
In one example described in the lawsuit, prosecutors allege that Martin demanded sexual favors from a tenant whose family was behind on rent. After she stopped having sex with Martin, he evicted her and her family from the apartment in 2020, according to the lawsuit.
In another case from 2013, prosecutors said that after a tenant requested maintenance work, Martin entered the tenant’s apartment without knocking or asking for her permission. Martin “reached between her legs and grabbed the tenant by her buttocks and vagina. The tenant pushed (Martin) away and yelled at him to leave the property,” the lawsuit states.
