Ny realtors scammed by fraudulent vendor

A New York man who police said passed himself off as a real estate agent and sold the same building in the city, which he didn't own, to two separate local real estate agents was arrested in Maryland Thursday.

Kassiem Miley, 36, was charged with two counts of identity theft and one count each of first-degree larceny, second-degree forgery, third-degree larceny and criminal impersonation.

According to Police Detective Frank Podpolucha, on May 13, 2003, Miley walked into the Longwa Realty Co. and said he was Edward Blake, a New York real estate agent, and was seeking to make a fast sale on a building he owned at 41-43 Orchard Street. Miley drove Lou Longwa to the vacant building and, after showing him around, offered to sell it to Longwa for $22,000.

Although Longwa admitted he was suspicious of the low price he nonetheless agreed to give "Blake" a down payment on the property of $2,500, police said. The defendant failed to show up at a meeting with Longwa to close on the property and Longwa never heard from him again.

Police said they later heard from Loretta Anyafulu, an agent for ALO Realty Co. who claimed she had also apparently been flim-flammed by a man passing himself off as Edward Blake. Police said Anyafulu told them "Blake" had approached her and offered to sell the same building for $10,000 cash. Anyafulu found a local investor who agreed to give her the money and turned it over to Miley.

Once again, Miley didn't appear for the meeting to close on the property. When Anyafulu attempted to contact him, the phone number he gave her turned out to be listed to someone else.

Source: The Connecticut Post