The U.S. Department of Justice has filed a federal lawsuit against a State College, Pennsylvania, landlord, accusing him of sexually harassing his tenant and then leaving her home's heating system broken through freezing temperatures until it failed catastrophically, leaving the woman and her four children without a place to live. Federal prosecutors say landlord Venkatachalam Mani ignored the tenant's repeated requests to repair the furnace, and that the failure was serious enough to force the family out entirely. The suit accuses Mani of violating the Fair Housing Act through alleged sexual harassment and retaliatory neglect of the property.
According to a complaint filed by the U.S. Department of Justice in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, Mani leased the rental to tenant Jordan Miller in June 2022, two months after she applied for an emergency Housing Choice Voucher. As reported by Tampa Free Press, the case was filed this week in federal court. The lawsuit alleges Mani made unwelcome sexual advances toward Miller and retaliated against her after she refused him.
Complaint Details Unwanted Advances and a Child Witness
The complaint states that Mani's alleged harassment began in June 2022, when he invited Miller to his personal residence under the pretext of paying her to help organize paperwork. She brought her 11-year-old son along, and the complaint says Mani appeared without a shirt and engaged in non-consensual sexual touching. Local police later verified her account, completing an affidavit of probable cause in July 2023.
Those findings led to criminal charges against Mani in Centre County. In June 2024, he pleaded nolo contendere — a plea that accepts conviction without admitting guilt — to indecent assault and harassment in Centre County Common Pleas Court, according to court records cited in the federal complaint. A judge sentenced him to two years of probation and ordered him to stay at least 1,000 feet away from Miller and her children.
Furnace Fire Left the Family Without Heat or a Home
Court records cited in the complaint show Miller emailed Mani in September 2022 asking him to repair the home's furnace, telling him she did not want him coming to the property because of the earlier assault. The furnace was never fixed. On December 26, 2022, it caught fire and covered the interior of the home in soot, and four days later a technician from Nittany Energy Company red-tagged the furnace as unsafe for occupancy, rendering the home uninhabitable and forcing the family out in the middle of winter.
Miller filed an initial fair housing complaint with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development on December 2, 2022, prompting a federal investigation. HUD issued a formal charge of discrimination and attempted conciliation between the parties without success before referring the case to the Justice Department, according to the complaint. Miller then chose to have her case heard in federal district court rather than continue through HUD's administrative process.
Lawsuit Seeks Damages and a Permanent Injunction
The lawsuit was brought under Section 3612(o) of the Fair Housing Act, which allows the federal government to seek compensatory and punitive damages, civil penalties, and injunctive relief on behalf of victims of sex-based housing discrimination, according to the complaint. Beyond damages for Miller and her children, the government is asking for a permanent court order barring Mani from any future housing discrimination.
Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon, who leads the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division and was confirmed by the U.S. Senate in April 2025, said the conduct alleged in the lawsuit is illegal and that her office intends to uphold women's rights to housing free from the threat of sexual harassment by a landlord. Dhillon said Mani failed to fix the furnace specifically because Miller had refused his sexual advances, according to the department's statement on the case.
Case Fits a Pattern of National Enforcement
U.S. Attorney Brian D. Miller for the Middle District of Pennsylvania said sexual exploitation of tenants for sexual favors, sexual assault, and landlord retaliation will not be tolerated in the district, according to a statement from his office. The case is being pursued under the Justice Department's national Sexual Harassment in Housing Initiative, which has filed 53 lawsuits alleging housing-related sexual harassment and recovered roughly $19 million for victims since October 2017, targeting landlords, property managers, maintenance staff, and loan officers.
The State College case follows a pattern of similar federal actions elsewhere. In 2024, Hoodline reported on a similar Illinois lawsuit against landlord Michael J. DeWitte, who was accused of demanding sexual favors and making unwelcome advances toward female tenants. In July 2025, federal prosecutors filed a related suit in Green Bay, Wisconsin, against landlord David Jones over allegations of tenant sexual harassment and retaliation.
