Suspect (NYPD) and 93-20 43rd Ave. (Google)
Jan. 23, 2019 By Christian Murray
The police are looking for a bogus real estate broker who has been scamming prospective renters out of their cash deposits after falsely promising them apartments.
The suspect has allegedly ripped off 11 people in Corona since July, according to police. In each case, he convinced the victim to pay a cash deposit on an apartment that he knew was not available–and then would vanish.
The scam began on Monday, July 23, when the suspect duped a man out of a $2,300 cash deposit after promising him a unit at 32-33 105th St.
The suspect met three other prospective tenants at this location – on July 27, July 30 and Aug. 6—and took a $2,300 cash deposit from each of them.
The suspect then arranged a meeting with a prospective tenant on Aug. 17 inside 40-15 97th St. The victim paid a $2,350 cash deposit for a unit and never heard from the suspect again.
The same scenario took place on Sept. 5 and Sept. 17 when the suspect conned two individuals separately –one for $2,300 and the other for $2,400–at 93-20 43rd Ave. Another incident took place in Corona on Sept. 22, when the victim paid $2,300 only to never hear from the suspect again.
On Nov. 8, the suspect tricked two women looking to rent an apartment at 54-33 101 St. out of $1,850 in cash.
Then on Dec. 27 and Dec. 31 the suspect used an apartment at 43-18 104th St. to defraud prospective tenants out of $2,900 and $2,000 respectively.
The man wanted for questioning has gone by multiple names, such as Antonio, Toni, Patricio, Emilio, Tomas, Alfredo, Angel Dejesus and Jesus Parra, according to police.
Anyone with information on the case should contact the Crime Stoppers hotline at 1-800-577-8477, or text CRIMES and then enter TIP577, or visit www.nypdcrimestoppers.com.
