Fake Craigslist Ad Attracts Peeping Strangers To San Clemente Home - cbs2.com

Fake Craigslist Ad Attracts Strangers To O.C. Home

Rachel Kim
SAN CLEMENTE, Calif. (CBS) ―

Click to enlarge

1 of 1

They were making dinner when suddenly strangers were peeping in their windows. A San Clemente couple's effort to rent their home on Craigslist has turned into a nightmare.

CBS

They were making dinner when suddenly strangers were peeping in their windows. A San Clemente couple's effort to rent their home on Craigslist has turned into a nightmare.

The Van Nostrans are boxing up the eight years they spent in their San Clemente home.

But before they moved to their new house, they wanted to find good tenants in their current home.

"We are asking $3,500. It's 2,800 square feet…basically 3 to 4 bedrooms," said Melissa Van Nostran.

So their realtor put an ad on Craigslist but the problem was that someone else posted a fraudulent one too.

Someone advertised the Van Nostran's house lease for only $1,400 a month. The fake ad said the owner would send the house keys after he received a deposit.

Interested renters saw the real and fraudulent ads.

"We got multiple calls, multiple emails on the house obviously when it was listed for $1,400 because everybody was like, 'oh that's too good to be true,'" said Melissa.

And it was.

Not only that the family got flooded with calls and emails, they got unexpected company because the fake ad said the house was vacant and available to check out.

"I had somebody look in the window while I was making dinner and they kind of looked at me like 'who are you?' And I looked at them like, 'can I help you?'" Melissa said.

Orange County Sheriff's investigators are looking into the Van Nostran's case. So far, no money has been sent to the person who posted the fake ad.

On Wednesday night, the family was able to rest easy – they'll be moving on and out after learning a tough lesson.

"You can't believe that people would do that…and myself, I would never think of doing something negative – impacting somebody else's life in that way. So it opens your eyes up that there is a lot of bad people out there," said Mike Van Nostran.

San Clemente seeks bike solutions on 2 traffic-heavy routes | city, cameron, camino - News - The Orange County Register

San Clemente is calling in experts to come up with the best way to provide safe passage for bicyclists on two of the most challenging roads to ride in town.

On a 5-0 vote Tuesday night, the City Council agreed to pay Fehr & Peers Transportation Consultants $64,300 to:

A cyclist heads south on El Camino Real in San Clemente. The city is studying how to make the road safer for cyclists riding between Avenida Pico and Dana Point on PCH and between Camino Vera Cruz and El Camino Real along the busy Pico corridor.

PAUL BERSEBACH, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

• Find the best way to get bicyclists safely between Camino Vera Cruz and El Camino Real along the busy Avenida Pico corridor.

• Recommend the best way to engineer a safe bikeway between North Beach and the Dana Point city limit along El Camino Real (Pacific Coast Highway). (Click here to see map)

City Engineer Bill Cameron said he would like to see a Class 1 bikeway – separated from cars – for as much of the Pico route as possible.

"Pico is our most heavily traveled road," he said. "I'm a cyclist and I don't want to ride on that street."

The city expects to receive options with cost estimates attached. Solutions could involve routing the bikeway along a storm-drain channel or even tunneling under I-5, which would be expensive, Cameron said. The city would apply for grants and work with the California Department of Transportation and the Orange County Transportation Authority to incorporate bicycle improvements into a proposed widening of the Pico freeway undercrossing.

On El Camino Real, the city needs to decide whether to have protected bike lanes on each side of the highway or use a single, two-way protected lane like Dana Point has. Cameron said he would want San Clemente's to be wider.

There's also the question, Cameron said, of how bicyclists should negotiate the intersection of El Camino Real and Avenida Estacion, which will get a traffic signal. Right of way is limited in that area.

Cameron said the city expects some partially engineered answers in time to meet a June 9 deadline for a grant application.

Pete van Nuys, a San Clemente cycling expert, questioned whether the city is going too fast. He said he doesn't like what he called the Dana Point "cattle chute" approach and that he could envision a Class 1 trail halfway up the Marblehead Coastal bluff.

Brenda Miller, a local bicycle enthusiast and city planning commissioner, said the city needs to ensure connections to neighborhoods such as the Marblehead Coastal development and Shorecliffs. "Do it right rather than twice or thrice," she said.

Cameron said a route halfway up the bluff would be nice, and Marblehead Coastal developers show a walking trail there in their plans. Only the Marblehead Coastal stretch of bluff north to Camino Capistrano is suitable for the trail, Cameron added.

Though the city hopes to apply for an El Camino Real grant by June, Cameron said the city has longer to deal with options for Pico.