Ex-Real Estate Agent Bagged For Allegedly Scamming Rent Deposits From Would-Be Tenants For Vacant HUD Homes; Used Craigslist, Fake Name, Say Cops

In Indianapolis, Indiana, therepublic.com reports:

• A former real estate agent conned at least eight people by renting them properties actually owned by a federal agency and then running off with their deposits, prosecutors said. Authorities in three Indiana counties accuse Richard Swoveland, 38, of scamming people by persuading them to rent empty homes the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development was in the process of selling.

• Investigators say the Greenfield man advertised the homes on the Craigslist Web site under a fake name. He allegedly showed prospective renters the homes using a HUD master key. HUD is investigating how he obtained the key, but officials suspect he got it while he was a licensed agent. Swoveland was a licensed real estate agent in Indiana until 2008. Swoveland, who is being held in the Hamilton County Jail, has pleaded guilty to a felony theft charge in that county and faces other charges in Hancock and Marion counties.

For more, see Greenfield man accused of housing scam.