Local News in Brief : Police Hold Suspect in Rental Swindle

Los Angeles police have arrested an elderly Van Nuys man who is suspected of renting his house to at least 12 people at the same time and bilking the prospective tenants out of about $15,000, police said Monday.

Detective Rudy Quintanilla said Samuel Rizzo, 71, turned himself in Wednesday on an unrelated charge of passing bad checks, apparently unaware that police had been searching for him because of the alleged rent scam. He was arrested on suspicion of grand theft and is being held in lieu of $50,000 bail at Los Angeles County Central Jail, Quintanilla said.

Police said Rizzo rented his three-bedroom home in the 5900 block of Costello Avenue in Van Nuys to at least a dozen people from June 12 until June 30 and accepted partial payment for first and last months’ rent as well as cleaning deposits.

Rizzo previously was arrested on July 5, when three of the alleged victims reported to police that they tried to move into the house at the same time. Rizzo later was released on $1,500 bail, but was not charged because police said they believed there may have been more than three victims and wanted to continue their investigation, Quintanilla said.