A 50-year-old man in California’s Marin County was arrested yesterday for stealing thousands of dollars in jewelry and other items last month from open houses where he pretended to be a real estate agent.
The Marin County Sheriff’s Office reported that Joshua Lamont arrived at an open house in the Sleepy Hollow area of Marin County and falsely claimed to be working with another realtor who was interested in the home. Lamont was allowed to conduct a self-guided tour of the home, and during this time he stole approximately $15,000 in jewelry from within the home. Approximately three weeks later used the same scheme at a home in the Kent Woodlands area and burglarized the property of approximately $10,000 worth of jewelry and checks.
Police located Lamont at a hotel in Walnut Creek, where he was arrested on Nov. 20. During the search of his hotel room, police uncovered evidence from the Kent Woodlands burglary plus receipts from pawn shops in the Bay Area. A search is underway to uncover the rest of the belongings that he stole.
“Lamont was booked in the Marin County Jail for two counts of 459 PC Burglary as well as two outstanding warrants for similar crimes in San Diego and Santa Barbara Counties,” said the sheriff’s office in a statement. “Lamont’s bail for the Marin crimes is currently set at $250,000, with additional bail amounts for his outstanding warrants. Lamont’s total bail is currently set at $400,000.”
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There is a disclosure that the listing agent should have given to this seller. The disclosure warns the seller about things like this, and the seller should not have left any “valuables” that could be easily stolen in the home. Secondly, you should never have a “self-showing” system set up with an owner or tenant still living in the property. Realtors have systems to prevent this sort of thing, and those systems were not followed. It sounds like they were easily able to find this guy and perhaps that was from data gathered from the self-showing system? I would suggest “appointment only” showings with either the listing agent or the owner or to direct all interested parties to a weekend open house that is properly staffed.
It sounds like this WAS an open house so the listing agent was probably helping potential buyers rather than following another agent. So I can see how this could happen. But of course the sellers should have been advised to put away jewelry and other valuables.
We always tell our sellers to secure their personal property. Not sure how this could happen. I would also never let a single person “roam” through a property, that’s asking for trouble.
This happened in Chicago. A woman posed as a broker and attended broker open houses as well as public open houses. It went on for several months, and she became increasingly bold, bringing a gym bag with her to carry out entire jewelry boxes. Finally, her image was captured on security camera footage and circulated. We never saw her again.
Also, when holding an Open House, make sure the home is secure when you leave it. A subject wondering through the home alone, may unlock a window to return later.
Another good reason, keep an eye or walk with all persons in the home. If you are too busy, limit the amount of people entering that you can handle. They can wait till their turn and while waiting they can fill out the log book. Another option, have your helpers with you to help monitor the open house. Best of wishes and stay safe!