Woman Surrenders In Scam For Affordable Housing In Inwood
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- A Bronx woman turned herself in to police Monday following a two-month probe of an alleged rental scam in Upper Manhattan.
Jennifer Ricardo, 33, was accused of masquerading as a real estate agent, and illicitly collecting thousands of dollars from numerous victims.
CBS2's Dick Brennan reported last month that they lost a fortune when they put down money for affordable housing units in a building in the eastern section of Inwood.
Anna Villega said she was devastated to learn that she and her two little ones – 5-year-old Jarlene and 2-year-old Najelis – are out in the cold.
She said a scammer took her money -- $13,000 – along with their hopes for an affordable rental apartment for her family.
"I'm so sad," Villega said in Spanish. "It was my dream."
A scammer also shattered the dreams of Evelyn Hernandez's family, taking $16,000, but never delivering on a promise for an apartment at 552 Academy St. in Inwood.
The Academy Street building was renovated by the city so it could offer affordable housing to people in the community. A lottery for was held for the 40 units, and a total of 50,000 people applied.
The alleged con artist convinced Villega and Hernandez that they had beaten the long lottery odds, and they would get an apartment if they forked over the cash. They were even given keys their places.
But there were no apartments. Police said all the leases were fake and the keys did not even work.
In total, Ricardo allegedly took more than $24,000, police said.
By the time the would-be residents found out that the building did not really even have any apartments available and were told they had been scammed, Ricardo had fled the country for her native Dominican Republic, police said.
But Ricardo returned and surrendered to police on Monday, and was charged in 10 incidents of grand larceny and one incident of scheme to fraud, police said.
Information on Ricardo's arraignment was not immediately available.