A mother raising three children and expecting a fourth told District officials that people have smoked crack cocaine outside her apartment door more than 10 times, allowing fumes to drift into the home where her family lives.
She is among the tenants in a 36-unit Ward 8 apartment building where the District alleges residents have been afraid to walk the hallways, squatters have taken over parts of the property, and police have repeatedly arrested people on drug charges. The District has now sued the building’s owners seeking a court order to secure the property, which Attorney General Brian Schwalb’s office says has become a persistent drug-related nuisance.
“This property owner’s extreme neglect has fostered a dangerous environment that threatens tenants’ safety and has far-reaching negative impacts on the neighboring community,” Schwalb said. “By law, property owners must take basic steps to keep their buildings safe.”
The lawsuit names 1828 Q Street SE Apartments LLC and its beneficial owners, Marquis Bailey and Dion Robertson. According to the complaint, the company has owned the Fairlawn property since 2022.
Neither the owners nor their attorneys returned requests for comment from The Washington Informer.
The allegations describe months of police activity inside the building at 1828 Q St. SE, located within blocks of Boone Elementary School, Kramer Middle School, Anacostia High School, and a child care center serving children as young as 6 months. The District alleges that the building is known in the neighborhood for drug sales and use and has become “overrun with squatters.”
According to the complaint, U.S. Marshals encountered a person leaving an apartment holding what was described as a crack pipe during a May 10 building check. Four days later, marshals found a woman in a stairwell with drug paraphernalia and arrested her on unrelated warrants.
Police activity escalated during the summer.
On June 30, Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) officers arrested a person for distribution of a controlled substance and seized crack cocaine. On July 4, police made another distribution arrest and recovered crack cocaine and cash. Four days later, officers executing a search warrant arrested three people on possession and possession-with-intent-to-distribute charges. Police said they seized cocaine, crack cocaine, 13 white pills, marijuana, two ballistic vests, and cash.
By Sept. 2, MPD had logged 190 calls for service at the property in 2026, including 25 involving reported drug activity, according to the lawsuit. At a June community meeting, a tenant said she was afraid to use the stairwells and hallways and did not feel safe taking out the garbage behind the building because of the activity there.
The complaint also describes what an Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner reported observing during visits to the property, including people sleeping or congregating in stairwells, drug paraphernalia, open alcohol containers, urine, fecal matter, and piles of trash.
Schwalb’s office alleges that the owners knew how serious the situation had become.
According to the lawsuit, Bailey acknowledged the conditions in an Aug. 20 text exchange with the attorney general’s office, stating that the building “has been taken over by squatters and criminals.” The complaint alleges that Bailey initially discussed meeting with officials, then directed them to Robertson, and eventually stopped responding to calls and text messages.
According to the complaint, Robertson spoke with the attorney general’s office the following day and agreed to obtain estimates for armed security. During an Aug. 24 call with OAG and MPD, officials outlined steps to secure the building, and Robertson agreed to pursue them. Two days later, however, MPD officers visiting the property reported people entering through an unsecured door while trash and debris accumulated inside and behind the building. The lawsuit says neither Robertson nor Bailey subsequently responded to OAG.
“Glad to see action being taken for these residents, I suppose, but it seems a little wild that the city is addressing these kinds of problems by suing landlords for not dealing with them,” social media user Tom Lee said in response to the OAG’s announcement on X, formerly known as Twitter.
The District filed suit under its Drug-, Firearm-, or Prostitution-Related Nuisance Abatement Act, which authorizes legal action against owners of properties used to facilitate certain illegal activity. The complaint asks the D.C. Superior Court to declare the building a drug-related nuisance and to order its owners to hire security personnel, secure vacant apartments, install cameras and adequate lighting, and remove blight. The District also seeks statutory damages for each day since the owners were notified of the alleged violations, along with attorneys’ fees and costs.
“While we always try to work collaboratively with owners out of court, we won’t hesitate to take legal action when they refuse to cooperate or take any steps to address persistent criminal conduct at their buildings,” Schwalb said.
