City officials sue Tampa landlord, property manager for racial, gender discrimination

TAMPA, Fla. - The City of Tampa is suing a landlord and a property manager on behalf of a tenant for racial and gender discrimination, according to a lawsuit filed Wednesday.

Tenant Shelquen Washington told FOX 13 the issue started when she first moved in, which is when she said her property manager made a pass at her. She turned him down, but after she said the situation spiraled into a seemingly never-ending nightmare.

This lawsuit details Washington's darkest moments.

"I don't ever, in my life, want to go through this again," Washington said.

According to the suit, Washington's property manager, Vincent Lambert, made a sexual advance when she first moved into her unit on East Temple Heights Road in Tampa in November 2017.

After she turned him down, the lawsuit said the behavior turned into "relentless harassment" with Lambert ultimately trying to evict Washington and her three kids. 
"I'm a child of God and he's going to wish in his life he never did this to me. He was like 'I'm not racist. You are.' And I just looked at him and smiled,” she said.

Lambert is accused of cutting freon pipes to deprive her family of air conditioning and refusing to allow utilities to be repaired. The suit also said he made false accusations to the Department of Children and Families to have her children taken away. 

The lawsuit also documents dozens of racially-charged Facebook messages about Washington between Lambert and a maintenance man. One message included a photo of a Klansman. Washington called one photo particularly hurtful when Lambert allegedly referred to her kids by racial slurs and said he would purposefully lock a gate so they can't play in the backyard.

"He was like, ‘Lock the gate and let the monkeys outside tear it up.’ I don't got no monkeys. I don't have no monkeys. At all. He pushed me to the limit there," Washington said.

In May 2018, Washington filed a complaint with the City of Tampa, saying she was unfairly being evicted, which sparked an investigation. The investigation led the city to eventually file suit.

"It's not even about race. I don't want anybody, no single parent, no one ever to go through what I went through," Washington said.
Washington has since moved out and is now in a new home with her three kids.

She is suing both the property manager and the owner. In paperwork filed with the city, they both denied the discrimination. FOX 13 has made multiple attempts to reach them for comment, but have not heard back as of Wednesday evening.