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Man Accused Of Renting Out Properties He Didn’t Own May Face More Charges

Posted: 4:44 pm EDT October 16, 2007Updated: 6:30 pm EDT October 16, 2007

A Charlotte man accused of renting property he didn’t own to others could soon face dozens of new fraud charges.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg police said they expect to take new evidence in more than a dozen cases against Darryl Patterson to a grand jury.

Investigators say Patterson left angry people with less money and no place to live. One woman who says she was conned by the man spoke with Eyewitness News on Tuesday.

Pia Henderson said she’s been living with half-filled boxes in her living room since August, along with the half-empty feeling in her gut that comes from not knowing where she’s going to live one month to the next.

“I was actually supposed to be living in the house right now, but I'm not living there. I'm backed up with bills,” she said.

It was the last day of August when Eyewitness News met Henderson in front of the house she was expecting to move into on Santa Cruz Trail in east Charlotte. She said she'd just found out that the man she'd paid hundreds of dollars up front to had rented the same house, a house he didn't even own, to half a dozen others at the same time.

Police arrested Patterson that day, but that was just the beginning.

“There were several other people who came forward as a result of the television interview you did,” said Det. Mary Crowell of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department.

Crowell has spent the last month and a half interviewing people who say Patterson had also cheated them out of hundreds of dollars -- a total that's reached more than $11,000 from more than a dozen potential victims.

“They thought they were moving in. I really feel sorry for them,” Crowell said.

She is now going to take those cases to the grand jury as soon as next week. In the meantime, there is still no word from Patterson and no sign of the money Henderson and the others say they're missing.

Eyewitness News tried to reach Patterson on Tuesday but couldn’t get in touch with him or his attorney.

  • RELATED STORY: More Alleging They Were Victimized By Man Accused Of Illegally Renting Out East Charlotte Homes
  • RELATED STORY: Victims Say Man Scammed Them, Rented Them All The Same East Charlotte Homes
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