Haven't read everything new yet but wanted to weigh in on the real estate scams since I've had several of my listings fall victim to them. One typical one is when a property is on the market for lease, usually they pick a higher priced lease (mine was at $10k/month listed in MLS and in all portals) and the scammers from out of area create a mirror listing of yours, using your photos and verbiage, and offer it on Zillow, Craig's list, etc for an extremely low (irrestitable) price. In this case, $1000/month. Which is unheard of in this area where the home was. So they are then inundated with incredulous potential tenants all eager to offer and get in on it first. Scammers then say they have so many offers that they will not show it until prospective tenant sends 3 mos advance rent with offer. That one and variations are common. This house Beverly showed however was not for lease that i know of and to shift the status on trulia or Redfin or wherever to a lease... might call attention not be practical time wise for a scammer to get it done.
Another that could apply is the vacant house - also a leasing scam. I had one, no longer on the market, that a developer client had bought to remodel and flip. He was waiting for permits. It was again in a great neighborhood, gated and fairly uninhabitable as it was -but one night he went there to store something in the garage and saw the light of a tv coming from the window! (it was a teardown fixer, no furniture) went to the door and a large man answered claiming to be "the tenant" (whom we later discover to be a former convict w/gun related charges). And...he produced a standard template, signed lease.
The lease form anyone can buy and the person claiming to be the agent of the owner -who hooked him in -had a false name, tel number and address - none of them were existent. The "tenant" in this case was also told he needed to give $$ in advance of move in, this time 6 mos cash - again at a very reduced rent rate - think the scammer got @$20k off of him and fled. Tenant had no idea the guy was a fraud it appears. He had been there about a month already and had a son living with him. It was tough... We had to go to court eventually and have Marshall's evict him and remove him from the property since he refused to leave. He was out the cash.
The trick in this one, and how it could tie in to Beverly's case is that the scam artist needs to be able to access the doors for keys and possess a strong locksmithing skill. Which fits. Although mine was was gated, there were ways to get in if you were clever. He obviously made a key and handed it over after the fake contract was signed. BUT you wouldn't need a realtor to show the house if you could make a key yourself. The Old River Rd house was not gated, but readily accessible. So why call Beverly? That's my question in that scenario.
There are many more variations, but at the end of the day, my gut keeps saying that AL was doing somebody else's dirty work here and was a convenient hired hand. Not a mastermind. With just enough bravado and penchant for reckless behavior he would make an attractive proxy. MOO.
I don't think calling Beverly for a showing was random or a way to gain access to a vacant house so easy to approach, even for a clumsy criminal like AL! JMO though
