A Cincinnati woman falsely accused her landlord of saying he doesn't want black tenants, and she pleaded guilty in federal court to making false statements to federal agents about the matter, the U.S. Department of Justice said last week.

What's the background?

The U.S. Attorney’s Office in February 2023 was forwarded several text messages purportedly sent by a Cincinnati-area landlord as part of a civil rights report, officials said, citing court documents.

The landlord owns more than 100 properties — including 56 properties rented through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s housing choice voucher program — and many of his tenants appear to be black, officials said.

In March 2023, Dermisha Pickett met with HUD agents and gave them numerous discriminatory messages purportedly from Pickett’s landlord, officials said, adding that Pickett also claimed her landlord called her as she arrived at the meeting and placed the call on speaker phone.

Pickett told agents she tried to pay her portion of the rent but that her landlord returned it, stating he did not want to rent to black people, officials said.

Fanon Rucker — Pickett's attorney at the time — shared multiple alleged screenshots of texts from her landlord stating he wanted "a white family in this unit" and "will not rent [to] African Americans again," WCPO-TV reported.

"If it doesn't make everybody who hears this angry, then folks need to check their pulse," Rucker said nearly a year ago, according to video from the station.

But the landlord during a later interview with agents told them he didn't want to continue to rent to Pickett because she was causing extensive damage to the property, officials said, adding that phone records and forensic analysis indicate that no text messages were exchanged during the time periods Pickett claimed and that it's alleged she used mobile applications to fabricate the text messages.

WCPO said it was discovered that an alleged voicemail from the landlord was linked to a phone number tied to Pickett.

Now what?

“Making false reports of racial discrimination is unacceptable and can have tangible effects on other tenants who rely on HUD-assisted housing,” Special Agent in Charge Shawn Rice with the HUD Office of Inspector General said. “In this case, if the landlord had violated the Fair Housing Act, his participation in HUD’s Housing Choice Voucher program may have been revoked, causing the displacement of approximately 50 families who rely on the Housing Choice Voucher program. These families would have been forced to uproot their families to find new homes, incurring non-reimbursable expenses.”

Pickett, 33, was charged in August 2023, officials said, adding that making a false statement to federal officers is punishable by up to five years in prison.

Here's a video report that aired when the tables started turning on Pickett about six months ago:

Cincinnati woman allegedly made up discriminatory messages from landlordyoutu.be

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