South Florida Man Pinched For Allegedly Pocketing Over $7,000 In Deposits From Prospective Tenants For Homes He Had No Authority To Rent

In Broward County, Florida, the South Florida Sun Sentinel reports:

• A Sunrise man used Craigslist to advertise rental properties he had no authority to rent, police said.
  
  The properties in Plantation and Fort Lauderdale turned out to be boarded up or in foreclosure and created awkward encounters for duped renters when the owners or other customers showed up.
  
  Stephen Plante, 23, of Sunrise, is accused of renting out two apartments and a townhome and collecting more than $7,000 after signing fake leases.
  
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  Plante was identified through a photo lineup and surveillance video at the business where he cashed the money orders, police said.
  
  In [two] Plantation cases, police noticed the lease agreements had discrepancies, wrong addresses and incorrect rental dates.
  
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  The police report did not indicate how Plante was tracked down as a potential suspect, but did say a fingerprint was left behind when the money order was cashed. [One] bamboozled renter identified Plante in a photo line-up, authorities said.
  
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  Plante faces multiple charges of grand theft, fraud, intentional false advertising and burglary. He remained in Broward's jail Friday on bonds totaling $33,300.

For the story, see Man accused of using Craigslist ads to bamboozle renters in Plantation, Fort Lauderdale.