UPDATE: Admitted Rental Scammer Faces Similar Charges in Southern California
YUBA CITY (CBS13) -- In an update to a story first aired exclusively on CBS13 on Tuesday, a woman accused of rental fraud in Yuba City is facing similar charges in San Bernardino County.
The San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department confirmed with CBS13's Steve Large that Sherri Heschong, 45, was arrested in September on two felony charges and then failed to show up for at least one court hearing.
Heschong allegedly advertises rentals on craigslist that aren't hers. Police say she takes the deposit, then disappears. But the old trick got a new twist when friends of the people she admits to swindling in Yuba City decided to swing back on Tuesday.
Tuesday's encounter played out like a made-for-TV drama.
Heschong to police. "I don't own it. I was scamming them."
Friends of the victim. "You scammed my friends and we just scammed you."
CBS13 had the only camera to catch this alleged craigslist con artist admitting her ploys to police.
"Were you taking this couples' money?" CBS13 asked Heschong.
"Yeah," she replied.
The elaborate plan played out at a table outside Brock's Ice Cream Parlor in Yuba City.
"Have you been scanning people out of rental properties for long?" CBS13 asked.
"No, just one house. One. That's it, one person."
"How long would you have kept going if they didn't catch you this time?"
"Just once."
She says just once, but police found more rental applications and receipts inside her purse, and now the new development with the charges in Southern California.
Craig and Patricia Weimer set up the sting Tuesday, posing as her next victim after they say she scammed their friend and his young family out of an $850 deposit days ago.
"They're the best friends you can ask for," the alleged victim said.
The pair played the perfect part.
"I just wanted to stay kind of in character and keep her from thinking anything was wrong," Patricia said. "I didn't want to mess anything up."
"Hopefully we've stopped a lot of people from getting taken this winter," Craig added.
Asked where the money was, Heschong said, "I paid some medical bills."
And did she have anly last words on the way to a patrol car?
"I'm sorry to that family," she said.
