A 51-year-old man who at one point owned and operated 14 sober homes stretching from Lynn to Brockton was found liable for sexual harassment after prosecutors say he offered privileges to tenants in exchange for sex acts and explicit pictures.
Peter McCarthy, of Lynn, was ordered to pay nearly $4 million in damages by a federal jury in Boston.
McCarthy was convicted in 1992 of indecent assault and battery, a crime that required him to register as a sex offender, according to acting U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts Joshua S. Levy’s office. McCarthy was on the state’s sex offender registry from 2004 to 2015.
The U.S. Attorney’s office and the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division sued McCarthy in 2021, claiming he violated the Fair Housing Act by subjecting tenants at the sober homes to sexual harassment, Levy’s office said in a statement. The $3.8 million award includes both compensatory and punitive damages, seeking to both punish McCarthy and compensate the tenants prosecutors say he sexually harassed.
The Justice Department will seek a separate civil penalty against McCarthy to “vindicate the public interest” and a court order to prevent him from managing Steps to Solutions sober homes or having contact with residents or prospective tenants, according to the statement.
Between 2009 and 2021, prosecutors say McCarthy, who was the registered agent and sole officer of the company, harassed residents of the sober homes by offering to reduce or forgive their rent, provide additional privileges inside the home, or waiving security deposits in exchange for engaging in sex acts or sexually explicit photos. McCarthy also made unwanted sexual comments, according to the statement.
The suit describes an incident in 2017 where a female resident of one of the sober homes asked McCarthy for an overnight pass to allow her to spend the night at her mother’s house and visit her daughter. McCarthy said he would give the woman the pass if she “made breakfast” for him in the morning, which she understood to be a reference to sex.
Later, in 2019, McCarthy sent sexually explicit photos to a tenant and asked for photos in return. Fearing she would be kicked out of the sober home because she was behind on rent, the tenant sent him a sexually explicit photo, according to the suit.
“Sexual harassment of tenants is abhorrent, and the department stands committed to holding housing providers accountable,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “We commend the survivors who came forward to testify about the heinous conduct that they experienced. This verdict sends a message that there is no place in our society for landlords who abuse their position of power to prey on vulnerable people.”
