WESTFIELD – Two city women were surprised Friday – one because a strange woman walked into her home and the other because someone was living in the house she thought she had rented.
City police report that a resident called and reported that she had given a friend $500 as a deposit for a house he had advertised for rent on a social media website.
The woman said that she and a roommate had met a man she identified as Danny Ruiz and had given him the deposit. In return, she told police, the man gave her two keys for a Dewey Street house.
The victim said that there was no house at the address she had been given but a nearby house matched the description provided of the property ostensibly for rent.
Assuming a simple mistake regarding the house number, the woman said that she approached the house and, using one of the keys she had been provided, entered it.
Inside she found the resident.
Police report that the resident called to report the intrusion but noted that the intruder “was very apologetic and provided both (her) name and phone number” in case the homeowner needed to contact her again.
The victim gave police the phone number of the man who had accepted her money and said that he was reportedly en route to Florida.
She also warned that “several other people were likely to arrive at the home in a similar fashion to view it.”
