BOSTON — Attorney General Maura Healey has filed a lawsuit against a Lynn landlord for allegedly intimidating, harassing, and threatening to report his tenants to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in order to prevent them from reporting dangerous and unsanitary living conditions in their apartments.
Healey is seeking civil penalties and restitution for the tenants involved and a preliminary injunction against the landlord She Ling Wang, who owns an apartment building at 5 Lloyd St., banning further communication between him and his tenants.
“Tenants have rights, no matter where they are from or what their immigration status might be,” Healey said. “We are suing to protect the rights of these tenants and to prevent any future tenant from having to suffer this kind of abuse in their own home.”
“It has been a very difficult time, but I’m happy that the case is finally in the authorities’ hands,” said Robelio Gonzalez, one of the tenants of the Lloyd Street building who was detained by ICE following a conflict with Wang. “They will all know that what this man was doing was wrong.”
Gonzalez was released from ICE custody following a community protest and has been granted temporary permission to remain in the country to participate in the case.
Wang has denied any wrongdoing and called the allegations “totally wrong.” According to WBUR, in a letter sent to the AG, Wang denied calling ICE on Gonzalez and said tenants had not been truthful with him.
The AG’s lawsuit alleges that Gonzalez and the other tenants experienced numerous issues with Wang’s management of the property, including vermin infestations, damaged walls and ceilings, severe leaks, broken windows, non-functioning smoke detectors and inoperable appliances.
In addition, it states that Wang would frequently enter apartments without notice or permission, and when the tenants complained about the intrusiveness, Wang allegedly would call them demeaning names and tell them it was his house and he could do what he wanted.
According to the AG’s Office, in July 2020, Gonzalez and his wife, Ana Maria De Leon began withholding rent after a continuous leak in their ceiling ruined their mattress and caused property damage.
“We were fed up,” said Gonzalez. “There were too many problems and too many abuses. We had to speak up.”
In response, Wang allegedly physically threatened De Leon and later threatened to call ICE and have their family deported. Several days later, Wang illegally served the family with a notice to quit, giving them 14 days to move out, in violation of the state’s COVID-19 eviction moratorium.
The tenants then reported the poor and unsanitary conditions in their apartment to the city of Lynn’s Inspectional Services Department, which then inspected the property and issued a notice of violation to Wang.
After Wang learned that the tenants called City Hall, Wang allegedly told the tenants that he had laws and ways of getting them out of there. Not long after Wang’s threat, ICE agents arrived at the apartment building and arrested Gonzalez.
After Gonzalez had been released, the report alleges, Wang’s intimidation and direct threats continued – including text messages that included photos of news articles about the arrest with the tenant’s name underlined and a follow-up text that read “… the game is over, please respect the law and talk to your lawyer.”
The AG’s office further alleges that Wang harassed other tenants, adding that he threatened to report multiple other tenants to ICE and that he once threw part of the smoke detector at a tenant while her young daughter was standing nearby.
According to the lawsuit, Wang’s actions were a violation of the Massachusetts Civil Rights Act, which states that it is illegal for an individual to interfere with a person’s rights by threatening, intimidating or coercing them, and the state’s fair housing and consumer protection laws, which prevent landlords from willfully interfering with their tenant’s quiet enjoyment of their apartments.
Since the start of the pandemic, Healey’s office has handled more than 200 complaints relating to the eviction moratorium and has stopped more than 80 illegal evictions.
