Salazar dos Santos, Sexual Harassment, Massachusetts 2024

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Chicopee Landlord Charged with Sex Abuse

BOSTON – A Chicopee landlord has been charged with allegedly subjecting female tenants to sexual harassment, according to a lawsuit filed by the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Salazar dos Santos, 79, of Chicopee, has managed residential rental properties in and around Chicopee since at least 2008. The lawsuit alleges that dos Santos subjected female tenants to unwelcome sexual contact, including coercing them to perform oral sex and touching intimate parts of their bodies.

According to the complaint, dos Santos allegedly exposed his genitals to female tenants, locked tenants in his office, implicitly offered to grant tangible benefits, such as rent payment plans, in exchange for engaging in sexual acts with him, and threatened tenants who resisted or objected to his unwelcome sexual harassment.

The owners of the properties, two family trusts, are alleged to be liable for Salazar dos Santos’s conduct.

No one should be forced to provide sexual favors, or otherwise endure sexual harassment, in exchange for housing, said United States Attorney Andrew E. Lelling. Sexual harassment is illegal under the Fair Housing Act and, especially during a time of increased unemployment and financial stress, my office will aggressively enforce this law to protect hard working women and others subjected to this kind of abusive conduct.

The lawsuit seeks monetary damages to compensate the victims, civil penalties, and a court order restricting his contact with tenants. The complaint contains allegations of unlawful conduct; the allegations must be proven in federal court.

The lawsuit is part of the Justice Department’s Sexual Harassment in Housing Initiative, which aims to combat sexual harassment in housing led by the Civil Rights Division in coordination with U.S. Attorney’s Offices.

Anyone with questions or concerns regarding this case should call the U.S. Attorney’s Office at 888-221-6023 or email usama.victimassistance@usdoj.gov.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office was established in 2015 with the mission of enhancing federal civil rights enforcement. For more information on the Office’s civil rights efforts, please visit www.justice.gov/usao-ma/civil-rights.