BY ADRIANA HERNANDEZ
Daily Post Staff Writer
A Menlo Park woman has been charged for scamming at least nine people by falsely selling cars and leasing apartments, a prosecutor said.
Leslie Lucrecia Velasquez, 34, has been charged with 19 felonies related to scams she pulled since the beginning of the year, according to Chief Deputy District Attorney Shin-Mee Chang.
Velasquez was arrested after she tried to scam a woman into paying a deposit to move into an apartment, then kept rescheduling her move in date, Chang said.
That woman was one of nine others reported to have been scammed by Velasquez that the DA’s office knows of, Chang said. Victims have estimated losses of under $50,000 from trying to buy a car or an apartment from Velasquez, according to Chang.
Velasquez would rent cars from dealerships and list them for sale online, Chang said. When interested buyers would contact her, Velasquez would ask for a down payment or monthly payments, and once they paid it off, she promised to give them the car, Chang said.
The cars would end up being repossessed or reported stolen and buyers never got their cars, according to Chang.
Velasquez would also pretend to be a property manager and list apartments for rent, Chang said.
There was one person who gave Velasquez $46,000 in cash for an apartment and $3,000 for a truck, according to Chang.
Velasquez started scamming people in January and continued through November, Chang said. She was released from jail on her own recognizance and will be back in court on Jan. 28.