William A. White, a Roanoke landlord known for posting his controversial views on the Internet, is being sued for libel by a former tenant described online as a welfare cheat, a car thief and a gun runner.

The lawsuit stems from a May 16 post on White's Web site, overthrow.com., about Edward E. Hamilton, a security guard who once rented an apartment from White.

"In the interests of being a good citizen, I am publishing this public warning about Ed Hamilton," the post stated.

"Ed is a convicted felon and con man who is terrorizing and stealing from everyone he can in the Hurt Park and Mountainview neighborhoods of Roanoke. Anyone thinking of doing business with him - stay away."

Those and other claims made by White are untrue, according to a lawsuit filed Friday in Roanoke Circuit Court that seeks $800,000 in damages from the landlord.

The suit was filed by attorney C.J. Covati, who said his client has no criminal record, as evidenced by the fact he is a licensed security guard and has been issued a permit to carry a concealed weapon.

Although Hamilton is believed to be the first person in Roanoke to file a libel suit against White, he is not the first to be portrayed in a negative light on a Web site that often airs racist comments.

Past postings on overthrow.com have called a local official with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People an "idiot," said a city judge was "complicit in crime," and posed questions such as: "What about all the good things Hitler did?"

Hamilton's lawsuit accuses White and White Politics, the company behind overthrow.com, of defamation and intentional infliction of emotional distress.

In addition to being publicly embarrassed by the false charges, the lawsuit says, Hamilton was also prevented from working as a security guard after White filed identity fraud charges against him that were ultimately dropped. The two men have a history of tangling in General District Court.

When told about the lawsuit Monday, White laughed and later called the allegations "garbage."

"That guy owes me a lot of money, so I'm not too worried about it," White said.

White first attracted attention in Roanoke last summer, when some residents of the West End neighborhood claimed that he was buying up rental properties with the intention of evicting blacks as part of his so-called "ghetto beautification project."

In November, the Roanoke NAACP filed a Fair Housing Act complaint against White with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

White said the complaint has since been dropped. A HUD official in Richmond referred questions to the Justice Department in Washington, D.C. A Justice Department spokesman did not return a call Monday.