Amanda Baumfeld has been all over this story and plans on filing an update this afternoon. In the meantime here’s a snippet of what she wrote for Friday’s newspaper:
This is a very well put together scam,” said Capt. Joe Hartshorne of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. “The families are truly victims. They could not have seen this coming.”
A hold has been placed on Singh’s passport and a silver Volvo left in the driveway has been impounded, officials said.
Renters began learning of the apparent fraud Monday night.
The Los Angeles Times didn’t touch the story in its print version, but did post a blog entry at LA Now. The story is accurate, but we’re wondering where they got the picture of a “For Rent ” sign.
None of the photographers or reporters who actually visited the scene at 5441 Calera Avenue saw a sign quite like that.
He looks nothing like the way he described himself in his ad, size 4? I don’t think so.