Men Arrested for Trying to Rent Home They Didn't Own

Photos provided by the Oak Park Police Department: Emmanuel C. Rice (left) and James D. Gavin (right).

Two men were arrested for trying to collect rent and a security deposit for an Oak Park house they didn’t own or manage.

Emmanuel C. Rice, age 23 of the 100 block of Main Street in Chicago Heights, and James D. Gavin, age 26 of the 3700 block of West 86th Street in Chicago, were charged Tuesday with felony attempted theft by deception, according to Oak Park police.

The house in the 800 block of Mapleton Avenue was vacant, but it had been sold. The property listing agent’s key lock box had been stolen, and a pry tool was used to get inside the house, police reported. The rear door lock was changed.

A 24-year-old Chicago woman called police after she toured the house. She told police that Rice and Gavin insisted on being payed in cash, they told her to change the locks after she moved in, and they told her not to worry if a real estate agent showed up and told her to move, police reported.

The woman and an undercover Oak Park police officer met the men at the house and agreed to sign a lease and pay $800 for the first month’s rent and a $2,000 security deposit. Rice and Gavin were arrested after the money changed hands and the lease was signed, according to Oak Park police.

The men are being held pending a bond hearing.

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