Douglas Waterbury (Provided photo)

WILMINGTON – The owner of Santa’s Workshop – an Oswego-based landlord – has been arrested again. Last week, he was indicted on charges of attempted rape, bribing witnesses and stalking.

For decades, tenants of Douglas S. Waterbury’s Oswego apartments have accused him of sexual harassment, coercion and pressuring them into sex in return for lowered rents or for maintenance work to be completed.

Waterbury, 65, was arrested on March 3 for a similar accusation from this past summer. He was indicted by an Oswego County grand jury on charges of attempting to bribe a witness, a felony, as well as third-degree attempted rape and third-degree patronizing a person for prostitution, both misdemeanors.

Waterbury has pled not guilty to all charges.

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The allegations

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According to an indictment provided by the Oswego County District Attorney and a press release from New York State Police, the female victim was trying to find new housing and was given Waterbury’s number. Instead of driving her to the rental on June 4, he drove to an abandoned commercial building in Scriba. Inside the building, the indictment says he unzipped his pants, exposed himself and demanded oral sex. When she refused, he offered money and repeatedly requested oral sex. She continued to refuse. Eventually, he drove her back to her home.

The victim – only identified with the initials “S.M.S.” – notified police the next day.

The indictment also says that Waterbury then contacted someone that he knew also knew the victim and attempted to bribe the victim with money for her to withdraw the complaint. It says he attempted to pay her off “to make the case go away.”

Waterbury was arrested by the NYSP Bureau of Criminal Investigation, arraigned in Oswego County Court and released on his own recognizance.

He is next scheduled to appear in Oswego County Court on April 27 at 10 a.m.

If anyone has information to assist State Police, they are asked to call 315-593-6194.

Waterbury is represented by Rochester-based attorney Stephen Sercu.

The case is being prosecuted by the Oswego County District Attorney office.

On Jan. 27, Waterbury was also arrested by Oswego City Police on charges of fourth-degree stalking stemming from an incident on Dec. 4.

According to NewsChannel 9 in Syracuse, “a woman accused him of trying to stalk her at an Oswego gas station a month prior, just a mile west of the deserted building connected to the June 2025 case.”

The television station obtained police reports detailing that Waterbury drove up to her in the parking lot and kept asking if she wanted a ride, then continued to follow her after she refused. His next court date for this case is March 31 in Oswego City Court at 9:30 a.m.

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Numerous arrests

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This is not Waterbury’s first brush with the law.

In 2019, Waterbury settled a lawsuit brought by former tenants alleging decades of sexual harassment and predatory practices that included demanding sex to lower rent or do routine property maintenance, while threatening eviction.

In the settlement, he was barred from renting or managing rental properties and agreed to turn over the management of his properties to an independent company. He and his wife – a co-conspirator in the case – were not allowed to be at the apartments.

But he allegedly never stopped. Waterbury was sanctioned by a federal court for violating this agreement and then fined for continuously being at tenants’ properties.

An attempt to hold him in contempt of court was dismissed last month. The five-year limit on the settlement order had lapsed in 2024 and the federal government did not respond to Waterbury’s motion to dismiss the case.

He’s also been charged with several more sex crimes since that 2019 settlement.

In 2020, he allegedly exposed himself while leaning into a vehicle in public view while trying to coerce a female victim into oral sex.

In 2022, he was charged with exposing himself to a male victim who was seeking an apartment while they were in a commercial building and offering reduced rent if he performed oral sex on Waterbury.

An Oswego County Sheriff told syracuse.com at the time that the “prostitution” charge is a misnomer because the victims are not prostitutes, and criticized the application of the law which has kept Waterbury out of prison.

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Decades of allegations

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In 2017, the Enterprise reported on the lawsuit brought by six women between the ages of 24 and 32 who said they were tenants of Waterbury’s apartments and were repeatedly pressured into sex for lower rents or maintenance, and that he let furnaces go unfixed and properties become rodent-infested when they weren’t having sex with him as frequently as he wanted.

These cases date back to the 1990s. The women were represented by the nonprofit CNY Fair Housing in the lawsuit.

Several of the women alleged that Waterbury was listing apartments for rent at amounts hundreds of dollars lower than he would quote when they met him. They said he’d offer to lower the rent, referring to “personal favors,” in one instance where he allegedly grabbed his crotch.

Some said they were pressured into consenting only after Waterbury blocked a doorway.

They also alleged he entered their apartment without permission numerous times by using his landlord key.

Waterbury settled the lawsuit and agreed to pay the plaintiffs $850,000.

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Santa’s Workshop

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Santa’s Workshop opened in 1949 as one of the earliest theme parks in America. The Christmas-themed park is within the hamlet of North Pole, near Whiteface Mountain, with rides, a reindeer stable and a seasonal post office. It was designed by local artist Arto Monaco.

When Waterbury was arrested in 2017, an employee there told the Enterprise that Waterbury is rarely there.

Santa’s Workshop is currently closed for the spring season. It will reopen on July 2 for the summer season.

Waterbury, who lives in Oswego, also owns the Renaissance Fair in Sterling, Sylvan Beach Amusement Park and about 50 rental properties mostly in the city of Oswego.