The Consumer Protection Unit of the Delaware Department of Justice warns Delawareans during this peak vacation season to be careful when they are looking for a vacation rental. The scammers operating rental scam schemes find legitimate rental postings and capture the information and photos of the property, and then list it on Craigslist or other online advertising platforms. Unsuspecting consumers looking for a good deal on a vacation rental find the bogus posting, send a deposit, and receive confirmation of their rental only to arrive and find other people in the home, are unable to gain access, or are otherwise turned away from the property they believed they had rented.

Rental home scams are also occurring with regard to longer term residential rentals. Again ads are placed on sites like Craigslist and marketed at very low monthly rental rates. The scammers steal information from legitimate for-rent postings, and troll neighborhoods for vacant, abandoned and foreclosed homes. Prospective tenants in these scenarios may be shown the property before moving in as the scammers have changed the locks to unlawfully gain access. The scammers will collect a security deposit and first month’s rent, and may even provide keys and allow the consumer to move into the property. Typically, only when the true owner or a neighbor notices, will the tenant be aware they have been conned. The scammers in these scenarios typically require that monthly rent be paid in cash and will often appear in-person at the residence to collect the rent.

All consumers should be diligent before entering into any type of lease for a rental property or providing any deposit or rental payment by taking these steps first:

• Consider working with a licensed realtor or property management company when possible;
• If using an online search engine or website, research whether the property appears on other websites or listing platforms and make contact with the listing agents to determine which is the legitimate advertisement;
• Research who the true owner of the property is by doing a parcel search online: In Delaware, one can search New Castle County properties at http://www3.nccde.org/parcel/search/; Kent County properties at http://kent400.co.kent.de.us/PropInfo/PIName.HTM, and Sussex County properties at, https://sussexcountyde.gov/zoning-and-sales-information.
• Carefully review the posting, advertisement or lease for misspellings and grammatical errors;
• If you are looking at a rental through an online listing site, you should familiarize yourself with the site’s policies for detecting and dealing with potentially fraudulent listings;
• Never pay any security deposit or rental payment in cash—always use a check, money order or credit card—and demand a receipt;
• Demand a written lease in advance, that includes the identification and contact information of the landlord, as well as identification of the bank where your security deposit will be held;
• When possible, request a walk-through before agreeing to rent or paying any deposit;
• Talk to neighbors to learn more about the property and the owners—be cautious of properties with a recently deceased owner or foreclosure;
• If you meet the person claiming to be the landlord, request to see their credentials, such as a business card or realtor’s license, and identification; you should also make note of the make and model of their car and the license plate number.

Consumers who believe they may have been scammed should contact their local police department and file a report. They can also call the Attorney General’s toll-free Consumer Hotline at 1-800-220-5424 or email the Consumer Protection Unit of DOJ at consumer.protection@delaware.gov. If the listing was posted on an online platform, such as Craigslist, the consumer should also file complaints with the online platform and with federal law enforcement at www.ic3.gov.

Other defendants sentenced to prison for drug, rape and burglary charges

A total of 26 members of the Only My Brothers (OMB) gang have now pled guilty to charges included in the 2016 indictment related to the activities of OMB after 2 more members entered pleas and were sentenced in Superior Court. The charges represent the first adult felony convictions for both defendants.

• Aaron Watson, 17, of Chester, PA pled guilty to Carrying a Concealed Deadly Weapon and Conspiracy Second Degree. A Superior Court judge sentenced Watson to 2 years of probation. Deputy Attorney General Ryan Bounds prosecuted the case.
• Kyaire Henry, 18, of Wilmington pled guilty to Gang Participation, Conspiracy Second Degree, and Carrying a Concealed Deadly Weapon. A judge sentenced Henry to 1 year in prison, followed by 6 months of either home confinement or work release then 18 months of probation. Deputy Attorney General Mark Denney prosecuted the case against Henry.

A 28-year-old Wilmington man will spend more than 4 years in prison for his role in a money laundering and drug operation. Christian Cortes was a courier in the “Operation Duck Hunt” case that resulted in the seizure of a kilogram of heroin and $130,000. A Superior Court Judge sentenced Cortes for his March 2017 guilty plea to Drug Dealing (Tier 4 Heroin), Money Laundering, and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia, to a total of 4 years and 90 days in prison, followed by 18 months of probation. Deputy Attorney General Rebecca Anderson prosecuted the case.

A 34-year-old Millsboro man will spend 11 years in prison for the rape of a young child in his care. During the summer of 2016, Gabriel Vargas-Rivera sexually assaulted the child, who was under the age of 12, on numerous occasions. Deputy Attorney General Casey Ewart secured a guilty plea from Vargas-Rivera to 4 counts of Rape Third Degree. A Superior Court judge sentenced Vargas-Rivera to 11 years in prison and the Transitions Sex Offender Treatment Program, followed by 6 months of home confinement, then 10 years of probation. Vargas-Rivera must also register as a Tier III sex offender and have no contact with the victim or anyone under the age of 18.

Deputy Attorney General Matthew Bloom secured a prison sentence for Nicholas Porter, 35, of New Castle, for breaking into multiple cars, stealing one, and then leaving the scene of an accident. In March 2016, Porter broke into multiple cars in the parking lot of the Village of Canterbury Apartments. He stole and crashed one of those cars, a 2006 Chrysler Sebring, into the back of a UPS tractor-trailer on I-95 before fleeing the scene of the accident. In May, a Superior Court jury convicted Porter of several criminal and traffic violations. In June, the court declared Porter a habitual offender based on his prior felony convictions, including a previous burglary. A judge sentenced Porter on two counts of Burglary Third Degree and one count each of Theft of a Motor Vehicle, Driving While Revoked, Careless Driving, and Leaving the Scene of an Accident to 6 years in prison, followed by 6 months of either home confinement or work release, then 18 months of supervised probation.

Revised Statute Will Address Complexity, Disparities, Serious Repeat Dealers

A bipartisan group of legislators joined the Delaware Department of Justice Thursday in introducing legislation to address some long-identified issues of complexity and conflict in Delaware’s criminal drug laws, as well as to make the laws more fair and increase penalties for repeatedly convicted drug dealers. If passed, the state’s criminal drug laws will be easier to apply, and potential disparate impacts that the current laws have on residents of the state’s urban areas will be eliminated.

Reducing Complicated Drug Code Factors

Delaware’s existing criminal drug laws impose penalties that are generated by a complicated calculus of five different weight classes, six different “aggravating factors,” and multiple types of “prior qualifying offenses.”

The proposed changes to the drug code will collapse the five weight classes into three, and eliminate several of the aggravating factors, creating a framework that is easier to apply and does not contain a number of internal inconsistencies that exist in the current law.

“Prosecutors and law enforcement officers have been saying for some time that a more straightforward, coherent criminal drug code was needed in order to ensure fair and proportional sentences,” said Delaware Attorney General Matt Denn. “We are grateful for the advice and participation of the law enforcement community in crafting these changes.”

The Delaware Police Chiefs’ Council backs the draft legislation, stating through its Executive Director Jeffrey Horvath “The Delaware Police Chiefs’ Council has reviewed the proposed revisions to the current drug code and is in support of the changes. We feel this is a positive step in simplifying the current drug code.”

Eliminating Disparities

The revised drug code will also eliminate potential disparities in the existing drug laws between city residents and those who live in suburban and rural areas. Currently, the penalties for drug crimes may be aggravated – and minimum mandatory sentences may be triggered – when those crimes occur within 1000 feet of a park or a place of worship. Because churches and parks are heavily concentrated in urban areas, particularly in the City of Wilmington, these aggravating factors can create disproportionate penalties for residents of those areas. The proposed legislation would eliminate proximity to parks and places of worship as aggravating factors.

“The drug laws, as currently written, effectively create a more serious offense of ‘committing a drug crime in the City of Wilmington,’” said Senate Majority Leader Margaret Rose Henry, a prime sponsor of the legislation. “This has a disproportionate impact on low-income and minority residents of the city. The passage of this law will eliminate that racial and economic disparity.”

Linwood Jackson, President of the Delaware State NAACP, said “The NAACP supports all efforts that result in smarter, results-based criminal justice policies that keep our communities safe. This effort is designed to achieve judicial equity in sentencing by ending racial disparities at all levels of the criminal justice system.”

Heightened Penalties for The Most Serious Repeat Drug Dealers

The proposed legislation also seeks to impose heightened criminal penalties on major drug dealers who re-offend after being previously convicted of major drug dealing offenses.

“Unlike other provisions in our criminal code, where there are heightened mandatory penalties for serious offenders who are convicted of the same offense over and over, our drug code has no such heightened penalties,” said Representative Larry Mitchell, the prime House sponsor of the bill. “Individuals who commit serious drug dealing offenses for the second, third, or tenth time after being convicted and sentenced for a previous serious dealing offense get the same mandatory sentence as they did for the first offense. Drug dealing remains a serious problem in our communities, and this bill will ensure that the most serious drug dealers who are convicted, serve time, and then go out and start dealing drugs all over again receive an appropriately heightened penalty.”

This new provision addresses a gap that was created by the passage of last year’s habitual offender statute. Under the old habitual offender law, a third major drug dealing offense resulted in a mandatory life sentence. However, all drug offenses were removed from the mandatory sentencing provisions of the habitual offender statute, so as a result there are no heightened mandatory sentences at all under the current code for repeat offenses of the criminal drug laws – only the existing two-year mandatory sentence that exists for the most serious drug dealing offenses.

Providing Uniformity In the Presentation of Evidence in Drug Cases

Finally, the legislation provides certainty for prosecutors in the application of a 2015 Delaware Superior Court opinion that approved of the use of “hypergeometric sampling” in making initial (“prima facie”) determinations in criminal cases as to whether a quantity of drugs seized in a criminal case is, presumptively, all of the same type as a portion that was sampled.

Of the legislation as a whole, which will be released for introduction Thursday, sponsor and House Minority Leader Danny Short said, “These changes will make our drug laws more coherent and streamlined. Once implemented, these prudent modifications will improve the application of criminal justice in Delaware.”

The Delaware State Fraternal Order of Police is also in support of the legislation.

Sponsorship of the two bills that make up the proposal will include Sen. Henry, Rep. Mitchell, Rep. Short, Senate Minority Whip Gregory Lavelle, Speaker of the House Peter Schwartzkopf, Sen. John Walsh, Sen. Bruce Ennis, Rep. Deborah Hudson, Rep. Earl Jaques and Rep. Helene Keeley.

Text of the two bills being introduced is attached.

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The Delaware Department of Justice Consumer Protection Unit announced a settlement with retailer USA Discounters, also doing business as USA Living and Fletcher’s Jewelers, along with 49 other state attorneys general, to resolve the states’ claims of deceptive trade practices against the company. An estimated $203,000 will be paid to Delawareans who were USA Discounters customers as part of the settlement.

USA Discounters sold consumer products, including furniture, appliances, televisions, computers, smart phones, jewelry and other consumer goods principally on credit. USA Discounters typically marketed to members of the military and veterans, advertising that military, veterans and government employees would never be denied credit for goods purchased from the retailer. USA Discounters closed its stores in the summer of 2015 before later declaring bankruptcy.

The Attorney General offices alleged that USA Discounters engaged in unfair, abusive, false and deceptive acts and practices. These allegations include that, in collecting on consumer debts, USA Discounters engaged in abusive tactics when service members got behind on payments, including contacting service members’ chains-of-command, and causing some service members to lose security clearances and face demotions. The states also alleged that USA Discounters only filed its lawsuits in a few Virginia jurisdictions, no matter the service member’s location, deployment status, or residence. In addition, the states alleged USA Discounters sold overpriced household goods at high interest rates, often using the military allotment system to guarantee payment. These unlawful business practices, the states claim, were secured through misrepresentations and omissions in advertising, during the loan’s origination, and during the collection process.

USA Discounters agreed to provide relief to certain former and current customers. The total estimated value to consumers for these restitution measures is approximately $95.9 million, primarily benefiting active and veteran service members. Namely, USA Discounters agreed to:

• Write off all accounts with balances for customers whose last contract was dated June 1, 2012 or earlier, and correct the negative comment from the company on those consumers’ credit reports;
• Apply a $100 credit to all accounts whose contracts were dated after June 1, 2012, which were not discharged in bankruptcy, and correct the negative comment from the company on those consumers’ credit reports;
• Write off all judgments not obtained in the correct state, and correct the negative comment from the company on those consumers’ credit reports;
• Credit all judgments that were obtained in the correct state against members of the military with a credit equal to 50 percent of the original judgment amount;
• Pay a penalty of $40 million to the states should the bankruptcy allow. This $40 million penalty will be subordinated to all secured, administrative, priority, and unsecured claims that are allowed in the bankruptcy case, and it is not expected the company will have the resources to pay this penalty.

The value of the restitution to consumers in Delaware is approximately $203,000. This settlement is expected to impact 75 state residents.

Other defendants face prison time for weapons, assault, burglary and child abuse charges

A 23-year-old man from Bear will spend 22 years in prison after being sentenced in New Castle County Superior Court for a shooting in Wilmington last summer. In July 2015, Shaquille Campbell shot a man in the leg, a short time after the two argued in the 100 block of North Van Buren Street in Wilmington. Campbell was convicted in March 2016 of Attempted Murder, Possession of a Deadly Weapon During the Commission of a Felony, Possession of a Firearm by a Person Prohibited, and Carrying a Concealed Deadly Weapon. Deputy Attorneys General Daniel McBride and Rebecca Song prosecuted the case, with Detective Ricardo Flores of Wilmington Police as the chief investigating officer.

Deputy Attorney General Jenna Milecki secured a prison sentence for Datwan Lum, 27, of Middletown. In August 2014, Lum forced his way into the basement window of a home in the 2200 block of Hillside Road in Wilmington, and stole an iPad, computers, and a briefcase. A few days later, Wilmington Police spotted him in the 400 block of East 3rd Street, and as Lum ran from them, he dropped a loaded .38 special revolver. Lum was sentenced to a total of nine years in prison following multiple trials for Carrying a Concealed Deadly Weapon, Resisting Arrest, Burglary Second Degree, two counts of Theft From a Senior, Criminal Mischief, Conspiracy Second Degree, and Receiving Stolen Property. The prison term also includes a Violation of Probation for a 2010 Robbery Second conviction.

Deputy Attorney General Phillip Casale secured a five-year prison sentence for Conway Hayman, 17, of Wilmington. In October 2015, he shot a man in the 100 block of North Franklin Street in Wilmington during a robbery attempt. Hayman pled guilty in May 2016 to Assault First Degree, Possession of a Firearm During the Commission of a Felony, Attempted Robbery Second Degree, and Conspiracy Second Degree.

Deputy Attorney General Julie Finocchiaro secured a prison sentence for James Jones, Jr., 33, of Claymont. In December 2015, Jones broke into two units in the Harbor House Apartments in Claymont, stealing money, jewelry, and an AR-15 rifle. In May, he pled guilty to two counts of Burglary Second Degree, Theft of a Firearm, Theft from a Senior, and Resisting Arrest. Jones was sentenced to three years in prison, followed by probation.

Deputy Attorney General Karin Volker secured a plea to Child Abuse Second Degree from John Holliday, 39, of Newark. In March 2016, Holliday hit his then 11-year-old son in the head with the handle of a knife while disciplining the boy by fighting with him. The child suffered cuts and bruises to the face. Holliday also threatened the child with the knife. Holliday faces up to two years in prison when sentenced by the court.

Deputy Attorney General Lindsay Taylor secured a guilty plea from Tyra Mills, 41, of Dover, in connection with a 2014 Kent County investigation which resulted in the arrest and prosecution of 20 people involved in the drug trade in Kent and New Castle Counties, mostly centered in the Capital Park neighborhood of South Dover. Mills pled guilty to four counts of Drug Dealing, and one count of Possession of Illegal Prescription Drugs. Mills will be sentenced in Kent County Superior Court in November.

Deputy Attorney General John Donahue secured a plea to Unlawful Sexual Contact in the First Degree from John King, 67, of Millsboro. His victim was a child under the age of 10. King, a Tier 2 sex offender will be sentenced by the court in October.