Police Hunt Suspect in Alleged Rent Fraud
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Police are searching for a 71-year-old Van Nuys man suspected of renting a house to at least nine people at the same time and bilking the prospective tenants out of about $15,000, authorities said Tuesday.
Detective Rudy Quintanilla of the Los Angeles Police Department said that Sam Rizzo accepted partial payments for the first and last months’ rent as well as a cleaning deposit from the nine people between June 12 and June 30 for his three-bedroom house in the 5900 block of Costello Avenue in Van Nuys.
Police arrested Rizzo July 5 at a Van Nuys motel after three of the victims reported to police that they tried to move into the house at the same time. Rizzo was held on suspicion of grand theft and released on $1,500 bail.
Police said they have since found six other people who paid Rizzo to rent the house. Authorities believe there may be more victims because advertisements to rent the home for $800 a month appeared as recently as Monday in local newspapers, Quintanilla said.
Police said Rizzo is scheduled to be arraigned July 18 in Van Nuys Municipal Court, but that investigators have not been able to find him since his release on bail.
Rizzo has not yet been charged because police are still looking for more victims, Quintanilla said.
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