Judge Finds Daugherty ‘Not Credible,’ Orders Property Clean Up

Slumlord Dara Daugherty took the stand earlier this week in St. Louis Circuit Court and testified that she had relinquished one of her most problematic properties, a home on Virginia Avenue in Tower Grove East.

But in an order issued yesterday, Judge Jason Sengheiser indicated he has some doubts about that. He wrote that after careful examination of Daugherty’s testimony, her demeanor and the other evidence presented in court, he finds her testimony of having sold the property “not credible.”

The hearing Tuesday came as part of the city’s wider effort to crack down on what it says was an illegal rooming house scheme run by Daugherty and five of her family members and associates. The city says the scheme spanned 39 properties across nine south city properties. 

Among all those holdings, the house on Virginia Avenue was among the most squalid — a nuisance for those living nearby and a danger for those living within. (At least one tenant died during a heatwave.)

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RYAN KRULL

The house on Virginia Avenue owned by Daugherty has become a major nuisance to neighbors.

In April, within the context of the overarching suit, the city asked Sengheiser to issue a preliminary injunction ordering Daugherty to immediately stop operations at the Virginia Avenue house and to abate the nuisances caused by it, including odors from raw sewage and a rat infestation that was spreading to neighboring properties. But Daugherty’s attorney Elkin Kistner argued earlier this week that such an injunction was totally unnecessary. He said Daugherty had sold the property for $75,000 via a quitclaim deed to Patrick Timmerman, a business associate of her younger brother.

However, Sengheiser noted in his order that the business records Daughtery produced as evidence of the sale show Timmerman paying her only $50,000. He also noted Daugherty’s history of transferring at least one other property to a business associate via quitclaim deed, only to have that associate transfer it back in less than a year.

As part of Sengheiser’s order, Daugherty must immediately stop renting out the Virginia Avenue property and to clean up the premises. Neighbors indicate that the rentals have stopped — but say there is still much cleaning up needed.

Sengheiser’s order also bars Daugherty from buying any foreclosed properties, using her tenants as an unpaid force to work on any of her properties, and having people impersonate city employees.

That last mandate stems from allegations that Daugherty had people pretend to be city inspectors to evict tenants and more recently had people dressed up as municipal employees to go into her properties that were boarded up by the city after being condemned.

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