A Virginia woman has been indicted on dozens of charges related to a rental fraud scheme in which she pretended to be a real estate agent and fraudulently took security deposits and first month’s rent for houses, townhomes and rooms for rent.
According to the Loudoun County [Virginia] Sheriff’s Office (LCSO), Kimberly Vu was indicted on May 18 by the county grand jury on 26 charges related to the rental scam. She was subsequently indicted Monday on 15 additional charges of obtaining money under false pretenses.
In addition, Vu was indicted for abduction of a minor, contributing to the delinquency of a minor, and assault and battery, and will appear at a hearing on those charges today. The abduction charge is categorized as a Class 2 felony, which under Virginia law carries a potential penalty of “imprisonment for life or for any term not less than 20 years and … a fine of not more than $100,000.”
According to Washington, D.C., ABC affiliate WJLA, Sheriff Mike Chapman estimated that Vu made more than $100,000 from victims she scammed, but it’s unclear how much of that could be recouped.
“Whatever we can do from a criminal standpoint, and lock down her finances, we will do. But, I’m not really sure how much she has left and whether these people will get their money back,” he said.
Victims interviewed by WJLA spoke about the real-world impact of losing thousands of dollars to Vu’s scheme.
“To go from being financially stable to just now drowning, in the amount of money she took from us,” Tiffany Najera, one of Vu’s victims, said. “We were already homeless.”
