Police are looking for a man suspected of felony grand theft through trickery after a homeowner discovered a man living illegally in a recently purchased home in Pacific Palisades.
Los Angeles Police Department Senior Lead Officer Michael Moore said Tuesday, Dec. 9 the suspect rented out a home in the 600 block of Radcliffe Avenue in the Via Bluffs neighborhood to an unsuspecting victim through a Craigslist advertisement.
The suspect never owned the property that was rented out, he added.
Source: MLS
Police did not release an exact address but did say the house sold on June 6.
A three-bedroom home on Radcliffe Ave. with a pool and ocean and mountain views was listed as being sold on June 6 for $2.8 million.
Moore said the new homeowner discovered a man living in the home on Nov. 18.
“The whole place was furnished. There were even paintings on the walls,” Moore said, adding that the renter, who was living in the house for four days before being discovered, was also a victim of the rental scam.
The renter had given the suspect $13,200 for the first month’s rent and security deposit via a money order.
Police did not release the name on the money order.
Moore described the suspect as a male (possibly white), about 6 feet tall, 240 pounds with gray hair and a mole on his right cheek.
Some prosecutors in California call this type of crime rent skimming. Rent skimmers will take physical possession of a property, sometimes by breaking and changing the locks, and then illegally rent out the location to unsuspecting victims.
Moore said the crime is not common in this part of Los Angeles because there aren’t a high number of vacancies.
Source: Zillow.com
In areas with higher concentrations of vacancies or foreclosures, rent skimming tends to occur more often.
As of Friday, Dec. 12, the Palisades had more than 30 homes that were either in foreclosure or in pre-foreclosure actions, according to zillow.com.
Moore said with the case in the Palisades, the suspect did not change the locks but rather obtained keys through an associate of the previous homeowner.
People need to scrutinize everything they see on Craigslist, Moore said, adding that with rental listings it’s important to make sure the advertisement appears on multiple sites and not just Craigslist.
Police are asking anyone with information about this case to call the West L.A. Police station at (310) 444-0702.
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