Saturday, December 01, 2012

Another Tenant, Kids Get Pre-Xmas Boot After Unwittingly Renting House From Vacant Home Hijackers; Cops Bag Duo, Say They Have Ten Cases Against Pair

In Plantation, Florida, WPLG-TV Channel 10 reports:
  • When Marcella Scott rented a home in Plantation she'd already pictured her holidays there. "I was thinking I could walk with the kids and they could ride their bike," Scott said. But before she could live out her dream a stranger knocked on her door.

    "He knocked on my door and asked what I was doing in his house. At the moment, I was shaking and about to pass out," Scott said.

    It turns out the guy who she thought was her landlord, Kenneth Corbin, is now in jail. Investigators say he and his associate, Tyrone Jones, are notorious for illegally taking over foreclosed homes in Broward County.

    "They use false companies, falsify documents, get the houses turned over to their names and then rent them out," said Plantation police investigator, Sgt. Al Butler. Police say they break in, change the locks, and then find someone to pay the rent in cash.

    There are currently ten cases against the duo.

    Local 10's Sasha Andrade may have stumbled upon the 11th. She approached a family living inside a home Corbin rented out a couple of weeks ago.

    "He's now in jail," Andrade told Daniel Biban. Biban was stunned. He says he paid Corbin $2000 in cash, money he may never see again. "He gave me a lease, he gave me a receipt," said Biban.

    As for Marcella Scott, she spent Wednesday moving out of a house that was never hers.

    Her holidays are now ruined, and any cash she had for presents will now be spent on a hotel room. "It's past tough because I have three kids, I'm pregnant, and I have nowhere to go," said Scott.

    Investigators believe there may be more victims out there. They say that a red flag is a landlord collecting in cash, or having a difficult time turning on water or electricity. Police also say that if a deal seems too good to be true it most likely is.
Source: Suspects take over, illegally rent foreclosed homes (Unsuspecting renters forced to move).