Men Get Jail for Scamming Renters

Monday, January 26, 2009
Teri Figueroa
North County Times

Two Orange County men who posed as landlords and rented out foreclosed homes, taking thousands of dollars from unsuspecting victims, left a Vista courtroom in handcuffs Monday.

Linda Smith, who had fallen prey to their scam, whispered a loud "yes" in an otherwise quiet courtroom as Superior Court Judge Daniel Goldstein sentenced Alexander Braslavsky, 34, and Anthony Patrick Marshall, 38, each to 90 days in jail.

"I don't think they are really sorry," Smith said after the hearing.

Braslavsky, of Irvine, and Marshall, of Mission Viejo, each pleaded guilty in September to a felony charge of grand theft.

Before announcing their sentences, Goldstein said he wanted to give each man a year behind bars.

But the two men already had repaid the victims in exchange for a maximum sentence of 90 days.

"I'm placing a great deal of weight on the fact that you made the victims whole," Goldstein told them.

Smith and her boyfriend fell victim to the scam last summer, giving the pair $4,500 to move into a Carlsbad home.

But as they were trying to set up utility services, the couple learned that the Adams Street house was in foreclosure and set to be sold in five days.

Smith called police and found another potential victim on craigslist.com ---- where the men had advertised the home for rent, Deputy District Attorney Anna Winn said.

Smith served as the catalyst for the case that landed the two men in jail, authorities said.

Winn said the subsequent investigation turned up four families, including those in Riverside and Orange counties, who had been victimized by Braslavsky and Marshall's scam since January 2007.

According to Winn, the two men would dress in suits and ties to meet the victims, telling them that Braslavsky was the owner and Marshall was his real estate agent.

The pair would show the home, make a deal with the victim, hand over a set of house keys and take the victim's money, Winn said.

Each victim paid between $3,350 and $4,500 to the pair, she said.

Families moved into the homes, Winn said, only to find out within days that their rental agreement was phony.

In reality, the two men had no ties to the home at all, and the victims had no idea that the homes they thought they were renting were actually in foreclosure and set for auction, Winn said.

How the pair got keys to the homes is a bit unclear, Winn said, but she suspects Marshall, a licensed real estate agent, was able to access lock boxes containing the keys and made copies of them.

"It was all very devastating for these families," Winn said. "How cold-blooded to take their money and know that they would not have a place to live."

During the sentencing, Braslavsky told Goldstein he was "truly sorry."

"I take full responsibility for it," Braslavsky said. "The only thing I can do is pay people back and avoid future trouble."

After the hearing, Winn said it was the men's parents, not the men themselves, who fronted the money to pay back the victims.

Winn said she believes there may be more victims out there.

"I just find it hard to believe that there are only four," she said.

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