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BY Erin Durkin – DAILY NEWS WRITER, Friday, October 1st 2010, 4:00 AM
A crooked realtor was busted this week for scamming unsuspecting home-seekers out of thousands of dollars in deposits, showing foreclosed properties he was never authorized to rent, local prosecutors said.
Roy Rave promised an apartment in the same Richmond Hill house to at least four people – then pocketed their money, prosecutors and victims charge.
Yuliana Williams, 27, thought the apartment Rave showed her was a ticket out of her decrepit East New York building, where mold and mushrooms gave her son asthma and conditions are so bad the building was rated second worst in the borough on Public Advocate Bill de Blasio‘s slumlord watchlist.
So she gave him $3,000 to secure the place – only to hear a series of excuses why she couldn’t move in on time.
I saved and invested it in this apartment, and the guy turned out to be a scam artist, Williams said.
Rave was arrested Tuesday and charged with fraud and grand larceny, according to the Queens district attorney’s office. He could face up to seven years in prison if convicted.
Trinie Washington, an associate of Rave’s who allegedly participated in the scheme, also was arrested.
The manager in charge of the 115th St. property told prosecutors Rave didn’t have permission to rent – or even enter – the house.
Joanne Perez, 52, gave Roy $1,500 as a deposit for the apartment she found on Craigslist – but got suspicious when he asked for $3,500 more and she demanded a refund.
After stringing her along for a few days, he bluntly refused to give back the cash.
He said, ‘You were stupid to give me the money.’ He ripped me off, said Perez, who has to be out of her current apartment by the end of the month and has no idea where she’ll get the money for another deposit.
Joseph Knox, 21, said he saved $500 to move into a different apartment Rave showed him in East New York – and out of the homeless shelter where he’s now staying with his family.
I saved up two paychecks just to get this money, said Knox, who said his hopes of getting out of the shelter are dashed for now.
At least two other victims were scammed out of a total of $4,500, court papers say.
Rave did not return calls for comment.
With Vinnie Rotondaro
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/queens/2010/10/01/2010-10-01_deposit_no_return_realtor_charged_in_apartment_scam.html#ixzz11XEtGX7q
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