David Tomblin is a thief and a fraudster who preys on poor people. In defiance of a judge’s order he has tried to collect rent from his former tenants. Common Ground has been receiving calls from several tenants, whom Tomblin and his staff are approaching asking for July rent. This is a violation of the court order. He is trying to take advantage of tenants’ confusion during this transition and line his own pockets.
He is trying to steal rent money that would be used to make critical health and safety repairs to these neglected properties, such as sealing holes in roofs, abating mold, fixing plumbing. Furthermore, residents who pay the wrong party are risk of eviction.
On Friday, June 12, David Tomblin lost one-third of his properties. Milwaukee County Judge Michael Hanrahan appointed a third-party “receiver” to “take control,” “collect all of the rents” and to “monitor and oversee” the 85 properties that David Tomblin and Highgrove Holdings (DBA as RPRFIL A, LLC) had mortgaged to US Bank. Tomblin owed US Bank more than $8.5 million. After months of failing to pay, US Bank to asked the court to appoint a receiver.
There is no chance that Tomblin and his attorneys misunderstood. The judge was clear: “The Receiver shall collect all of the rents, payments, issues, profits, security deposits, and other monies (collectively, the “Rents”) relating to the Mortgaged Property. . . . As of the date of the entry of this Order, all parties owing Rents for or occupying any part of the Mortgaged Property are ordered to pay the same to the Receiver.” Read the full order here.
All tenants involved should have received information about the change from SNSHN, the property manager hired by the court-appointed receiver, Rebecca DeMarb of Kali Resolution Partners:
We want all tenants to know that they should be paying their rent to SNSHN, not Highgrove or David Tomblin.
If tenants have questions or are unsure about what to do, they can contact SNSHN or Common Ground and Tenants United.
Common Ground and Tenants United.
- CALL: 414-751-0755
- EMAIL: admin@commongroundwi.org.
SNSHN:
- CALL: (262) 735-5989 & leave a message
- TEXT: (508) 252-7999
- EMAIL: team@snshn.co
- VISIT: 2004 MLK Dr; M-F 8 am – 6 pm; Sat. 10-4 pm
- ONLINE FORM: https://snshn.com/contact
Below is a rent statement that a tenant received in her mailbox on June 30.
Common Ground and Tenants United will not tolerate bad landlords in our city any longer.
Common Ground and Tenants United have been organizing Highgrove tenants for more than a year. We trained over 67 volunteers (including many Highgrove tenants) to canvass all of Tomblin’s properties several times over. We systematically documented interior and exterior conditions. We convened Highgrove tenants for group meetings to build relationships, share experiences, and strategize. We approached City Attorney Evan Goyke, told him about Highgrove, shared our concerns, and thankfully, began working with him and his team right away to bring the largest public nuisance enforcement lawsuit in Milwaukee’s history. Read more about our campaign on our website here.
Court Appointed Receiver:
Rebecca DeMarb: rdemarb@kali-rp.com
Partner Richard Schuch: rschuch@kali-rp.com; (872) 365-4400
Photos: Common Ground photographed many of the US Bank properties (exterior and interior) while canvassing in the fall and winter. View those here, credit “Common Ground and Tenants United”
Contact: Jennifer O’Hear, CG Lead Organizer and Executive Director
414-467-9981 𑇐 jennifer.ohear@commongroundwi.org
