Long Island Man Found Guilty Of Hijacking Homes In Foreclosure & Renting Them Out To Unwitting Tenants

In Riverhead, New York, North Country Gazette reports:

• After a three week trial and three hours of deliberations, a Suffolk jury convicted a Medford man Friday of burglary, grand larceny and fraud charges for breaking into foreclosed houses in Patchogue, Medford, Shirley, and Holbrook and renting out the homes to unsuspecting tenants. Paul Salamone, 28, smashed lockboxes, changed locks, removed For Sale signs, and put guard dogs in the homes to keep realtors and the rightful owners of the property away while he searched for potential tenants.

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• District Attorney Thomas Spota said evidence turned up by DA fraud investigators found that Salamone filed a total of 13 fraudulent liens with the county clerk’s office and the New York Department of State. “These liens were based on phony debts that, even if they were valid, would not have allowed Salamone to break and enter the houses in question, much less rent them out,” DA Spota said. The district attorney said Salamone’s scheme relied on fraudulent liens, receipts and other paperwork that falsely legitimized “a con game that victimized tenants and the legal owners of the houses”.

Source: Jury Convicts Man Of Foreclosure Scam.

See also:

• Long Island Press: Medford Man Convicted of Renting Foreclosed Homes He Didn’t Own,
• Newsday: Medford man convicted of rental fraud,
• Long Island Press: Local Man In the Doghouse In Housing Rental Scheme,
• Newsday: Lawyer: Man dumb, but no crook in real estate case.