Mom of 5 finds she was paying house rent to scammer

DETROIT - A Detroit mother thought she found a great house for her family but instead she's the victim of a scam.

The man she was paying rent to, doesn't even own the house.

"I'm tired, I moved too fast, I don't know where I'm going to go, I don't," said Onique Adams.

It looked like a good house here near Seven Mile and Livernois on the city's west side.  Especially for Adams, a single mom with five little kids including one with special needs. 

She gave a man by the name of Ron Johnson $1,600 and she signed what looked like a good lease. 

"They cut the power off," Adams said. "The realtors said I have to leave and said that I was squatting."

She was promised that she would at least get a furnace and is dealing with a leak. Now Adams said she can't get a hold of Ron Johnson and nobody knows who he is. 

FOX 2: "They scammed you."

"They did," she said. "I found out when the realtors came over here, that's when I really found out. It's not his home."

The lease says to pay $800 rent the first of every month, but if you don't know where to pay the rent - what do you do?

And now Adams is being evicted. The name on the eviction is metro Detroit Property Management and Mark Hutter, is the president. 

FOX 2 decided to get him involved. 

FOX 2: "Does this look like one of your leases?"

"No this is not a lease of ours," Hutter said.

FOX 2: "Do you know who Ron Johnson is?"

"No idea at all," Hutter said.
Adams did file a police report against Ron Johnson, but that doesn't solve her living situation.

"Have you tried to contact this Ron Johnson," Hutter asked.

"He would not answer at all," Adams said. "I made a police report on him and the detective has not called me back yet.

"It's unfortunate but at this point in time, because we see it so often, the tenants are going to start asking for proof of ownership," Hutter said.

Hutter seems to be sympathetic to Adams' situation.  He said he will try and work with her to see if she was really scammed and if she qualifies to rent the house with his company, but offered.no guarantees. 

If Adams does not qualify, she will be forced out and looking for a new residence in a few weeks.