Woman gets prison for online rental scam

LOS ANGELES - A Los Angeles Superior Court judge sentenced a 30-year-old woman to state prison last week for her involvement in an online rental scam, the District Attorney's Office announced.Judge M.L. Villar de Longoria sentenced Charletta Ann Randle of Los Angeles to a prison term of five years, said Deputy District Attorney Sabrina Corsa, who prosecuted the case. Randle is set to attend a restitution hearing on July 11 in Department 41 of the Foltz Criminal Justice Center. Co-defendant Keith Charles Adkins is expected to be sentenced and attend the same restitution hearing at that time. His expected sentence is 12 years, eight months in state prison. Randle and Adkins pleaded no contest to multiple counts of grand theft of personal property on Feb. 27, 2012. Randle pleaded to four counts while her co-defendant pleaded to half a dozen counts. Under the terms of a negotiated settlement, Adkins admitted to a prior strike for the purpose of sentencing, the prosecutor said. Randle and Adkins were charged with running a rental scam from Aug. 1 to Nov. 8, 2011, on Craigslist. The defendants baited victims with a for-rent ad, and stole more than $16,500 in "security deposits," authorities said. The victims uncovered the scam when they were unable to move in to the rental property.

********** Published: March 15, 2012 - Volume 10 - Issue 48