Berea Police have now made an arrest regarding an alleged property rental scam which has been ongoing for several weeks. The police received help from one of the scammer’s victims in apprehending the suspect.
On August 5th, Berea Police were contacted by the scam victim who stated that they had located the reported offender on Facebook and that she had an item listed for sale.
The victim then made arrangements to purchase the item and agreed to meet at Walgreens in the parking lot. Officers located the suspect, Kaitlyn Goins of Berea, in the parking lot who was allegedly in the same vehicle that she had driven when she collected money from the various rental scams.
According to police, Goins would advertise rental properties on Facebook Marketplace and meet the victims in person. Goins would allegedly accept cash from them, before handwriting the victim a receipt. The victims would not hear from Goins from that point on. It was determined that she did not actually own any of the properties that she advertised for rent.
Berea Police Officers arrested Goins and charged her with two counts of Theft By Deception Under $10,000. This case is still under investigation and more charges are possibly pending.
