Crook steals keys from realtor's lock box and rents house to St. Petersburg family

Kelly Cullins dreams of raising her kids in their own home. But now, she lost that dream for now – plus every penny her family saved for rent.

The hope was to move out of her parent’s house last weekend, but now, she and her fiance are just glad they have a place to stay with their daughters, 3 and 10 months.

“My daughter’s birthday is June 30 and it was buy a house or have a birthday party for her,” Cullins said. “It was a house with a big yard, we could have thrown her a backyard party.”

Instead, a scam artist ran off with the family’s $1,400.

Their nightmare started with a Craigslist ad. They found the perfect house and called who they thought was the owner. He met them at the house, had keys, and showed them the house. They agreed and met him later to sign the lease. But on move-in day, the Realtor, hired to sell the home by the real owner, showed up and called the cops. The guy they met was a criminal with no rights to the house at all.

“He met my kids. he shook my daughter’s hand,” said Cullins, in tears.

St. Petersburg Police is trying to find the crook who told Cullins his name is John Meyers. Detectives call this a new twist on a growing real estate scam.

Crooks have used Craig’s List to rent homes they don’t own for a while now, but they usually don’t show the house and meet the victims.

In this case, police think the criminal stole the Realtor’s lock box off the front door and somehow got the keys out.

Police advise you be extra vigilant, if you’re looking to rent.

“You do any kind of Google search on an address, and you’re going to get all kinds of information about the owner,” said Mike Puetz, of St. Petersburg Police. “If it’s up for sale like this place was, you’re going to find out exactly who the realtor is and you can check some of those references out.”

Renters should also check property records to find out who own the house or make sure you’re dealing with a licensed real estate professional.

Cullins knows this now, but she was blinded by her dream of a house.

“He needs to be found so he can’t do this to anybody else,” she said.