Leasing agent altered 141 tenant payments and stole over $50,000, Florida cops say
A leasing agent was arrested and charged after being accused of depositing tenant payments into her personal account, authorities in Florida say.
Between June 2020 and March 2021, the woman altered at least 128 money orders and 13 checks from tenants intended for payments to Verdant Cove Apartments in Gainesville, according to an arrest report from Alachua County Sheriff’s Office. She is accused of adding her name to the payments before depositing the money into her account.
In total, the agent stole at least $56,143.52 from the complex, the report says.
An audit in March 2021 by the apartment complex revealed that the agent “had been stealing money orders and checks paid Verdant Cove Apartments,” according to the arrest report. Investigators used footage from the agent’s JP Morgan Chase branch and photos of payments before and after the agent added her name to confirm the complex’s accusation, the arrest report says.
The woman was arrested on Thursday, Aug. 18, 2022.
She initially denied the depositing the money into her personal account, but later told deputies that the payments she took were deposits that potential tenants had “surrendered,” so she was allowed to keep them.
The agent is charged with 141 counts of forging/altering money orders/checks, 141 counts of uttering forged/altered money orders/checks, one count of grand theft of $20,000 or more less than $100,000 and one count of scheme to defraud $50,000 or more, the report says.
Woman lied about historic flood destroying home to cash in on FEMA payments, feds say
Fourth man pleads guilty to conspiracy that swindled bank out of $300,000, feds say
Barber school owner sentenced in scam that cheated veterans out of benefits, feds say
