Police: Man placed Craigslist ads for rooms, then scammed renters
Joseph Fernandez, of Sayville, was charged with grand larceny and fraud on Thursday, Dec. 3, 2015, Suffolk County police said. Credit: SCPD
For the second time in four months a Sayville man collected deposits for rent on a room in his house advertised on Craigslist but refused to complete the transaction with prospective lodgers, Suffolk County police said Thursday.
Joseph Fernandez, 26, of 139 Broadway, was arrested at his home at 11:50 p.m. Wednesday on fraud and grand larceny charges in the second instance, police said in a news release.
“He’d post the ads, collect money and in some cases even give out a key,” said Lt. Kevin Kane of the Fifth Precinct. “Then he’d be unavailable. He’d cease all communication, by text or phone. Or he wouldn’t answer his door.”
Police said Fernandez also did the same thing in September and was arrested on grand larceny and fraud charges; in the two separate scams Fernandez collected more than $11,000 from 16 prospective renters.
He was charged Wednesday with five counts of petty larceny, two counts of fourth-degree grand larceny, first-degree scheme to defraud and resisting arrest, according to a news release.
He was scheduled to appear in court on Wednesday to face charges in the September arrest, according to court records.
Kane said when Fifth Precinct Crime Section Officers Tracey Barry and John McGay tried to arrest Fernandez he would not comply and that he had to be “physically restrained.”
Kane said that in a few instances Fernandez, after collecting a deposit, agreed to store items for prospective renters but then wouldn’t give them access to them.
“He’d put the items in his garage and then he’d be unavailable,” Kane said.
Fernandez is scheduled to be arraigned Friday at First District Court in Central Islip.
Anyone who believes they may have been a victim of Fernandez but has not spoken with police can call the Fifth Precinct Crime Section at 631-854-8527.
Update: In 2017, Suffolk County Court dismissed all criminal charges against Fernandez after he pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct and was sentenced to one year conditional discharge, court records show.
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