Realtor Impersonator Appears Before Judge
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MIAMI (CBSMiami) – Officers arrested a woman accused of posing as a realtor to defraud prospective tenants.
Lyann Leyva, 25, appeared before a judge on Thursday.
According to court documents, the arrest stems from an incident January 7th in which police said she showed a Miami home to a potential tenant, then took $2,200 from him.
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On January 22nd, she was also arrested for allegedly posing as a realtor.
Maria Alvarez, the property manager at the Berkeley Condominiums near Kendall, said she learned something was wrong through a phone call.
"I got a call in the middle of the afternoon that they were showing an apartment and this individual was told if he gave cash for the first and last month he could move in right away," she explained. "It was a unit that was in foreclosure. Nobody should've been there so immediately we called the police. When they got there there was a lady representing herself as a broker, turns out she wasn't."
Alvarez said that was Leyva.
"She had listed the apartment on Craigslist for $800 for a two bedroom apartment – too good to be true," said Alvarez.
Now Leyva has been arrested twice in Miami-Dade County on similar charges.
CBS4 went to her home, but no one wanted to talk about the allegations.
Alvarez said potential renters can learn from situations like this.
"Be aware if it's on Craigslist and it's too good to be true, it's not true," she said.
