L.A. Man Cops Guilty Plea To Peddling Phony Rental Lists To Apartment-Seeking Tenants, Clipping $200 From Over 1,000 Victims

In Los Angeles, California, KNBC-TV Channel 4 reports:

• The man who state authorities called the "mastermind" of rental scams pleaded guilty Wednesday [June 14] to a felony charge of defrauding Southern California customers who were looking for affordable rental homes and apartments.
  
  As part of a plea agreement, Richard Rodriguez of Alhambra received a three-year suspended jail sentence and five years supervised probation in exchange for pleading guilty to conspiracy to defraud customers of his rental listing business, Superior Consulting in Rowland Heights. Superior is just one of numerous rental listing agencies run by Rodriguez over the last 20 years.
  
  "As a term and condition of probation, he has to provide restitution to the over one thousand victims and he's no longer allowed to be in any location where rental services are offered," Los Angeles Deputy District Attorney Jessie McGrath said.
  
  The NBC4 first exposed Rodriguez and his "rental listing" businesses in 2012. The I-Team reported that Rodriguez or his employees asked customers to pay them $200 cash, and in return they promised to provide listings of affordable apartments and homes to rent.

For more, see Rental Scam 'Mastermind' Pleads Guilty to Defrauding Customers (The guilty plea comes after years of investigations by the NBC4 I-Team).