LINCOLN, NEB. ? The U.S. Justice Department has called on 21 women to testify in Monday’s sex-for-rent trial of an Omaha landlord.

Federal housing officials claim that John R. Koch asked women tenants — many of them low-income and desperate to find housing — for sexual favors as far back as 1996 in exchange for such things as forgiveness of rent, late rent charges and security deposits.

Some women tenants were wrongfully evicted or threatened, according to the lawsuit filed last year.

Koch, who owns or manages numerous rental properties in the Omaha area, also allegedly subjected tenants to unwanted sexual touching, invaded their privacy by entering their homes without notice or consent and in some cases vandalized or stole their possessions if they rejected his advances.

Koch’s actions violated the federal Fair Housing Act, according to the government’s lawsuit.

It seeks unspecified monetary damages and a halt to the alleged discrimination.

The women are seeking punitive damages and, variously, compensation for moving expenses, storage fees, security deposits and other costs.

The case began when one of the women complained to Omaha’s Fair Housing Center in 2001. The center is a program of Family Housing Advisory Services Inc., which helps people obtain affordable housing in eastern Nebraska and western Iowa.

“She had gone out to look at a place that was for rent and came in pretty upset about how she had been treated,” said the center’s Jill Fenner.

A probe found two other women who allegedly had similar experiences with Koch.

The center wanted to file an administrative complaint with the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development, but the statute of limitations on the alleged incidents had passed.

“So we contacted the Department of Justice because, with three people, we were starting to see a pattern,” Fenner said.

Koch’s lawyer, Matthew McBride, declined to comment on the case.

The trial will be in U.S. District Court in Lincoln before Judge Warren Urbom.