Another victim of alleged rental scam comes forward

After seeing an update on ABC-7 on the arrests of Melissa Maldonado and Annette Dominguez, ABC-7 received an email from Fort Bliss soldier Parry Preuc, who accuses what he believes to be the same two women in a similar scheme about a year and a half ago.

“They seemed really nice up front, just like normal folks,” Preuc said. “It went less than a month before things started to spiral out of control.”

Back in July 2013, Preuc said he rented a room in an apartment at the Phoenix Apartments in the Lower Vally from Maldonado and Dominguez. He said he paid them a $350 deposit and $300 for the first month’s rent. About three weeks later, Preuc said he got a text from Maldonado.

“It said, ‘You have until the end of the day to clear out of the apartment. We’ve been evicted. Sorry,'” Preuc said. “I came home, everything was gone. My room seemed in tact until I started looking for certain things that would stand out. My laptop was taken, hard drive, my I-pad.”

Preuc said he quickly filed another police report, but never heard back from police.

A year later, this past summer, his friend answered a Craigslist ad for a dog being sold on the Far East side of El Paso and Preuc tagged along.

“To my disbelief, (Maldonado and Dominguez) were the occupants of the apartment,” he said. “She definitely recognized me. When she opened the door, she had this very shocked look to her.”

Not wanting a confrontation, Preuc said he filed another police report after leaving the apartment, hoping there would be an arrest.

“Unfortunately, I never heard back from the police department,” he said. “Having found them by happenstance, I thought they would make more of an effort.”

Preuc said he had forgotten about the situation until seeing news of Maldonado and Dominguez’s arrests on ABC-7.

“Definitely a godsend to see that they’ve been caught,” Preuc said. “Hopefully they’ll be brought to justice.”

After forwarding Preuc’s email to police, they told ABC-7 they cannot release any information because it is an ongoing investigation.

The District Attorney’s office told ABC-7 they have yet to receive the case involving Maldonado and Dominguez’s alleged crimes from police.