PA Man Charged in Shore Scam

Flemington, N.J.: A Pennsylvania man is charged in New Jersey with scamming at least ten people out of thousands of dollars by renting them vacation properties he didn't own.

Sixty-seven-year-old William McCandless of Newtown, was arrested Monday in Stockton, New Jersey, and charged with forgery, theft by deception, attempted theft by deception and wrongful impersonating.

Police and U-S Postal Service investigators began investigating after the Flemington Police Department received a complaint that fraudulent vacation rental deals were being done through a post office box there.

Authorities say McCandless used a stolen identity, a fraudulent bank account, a post office box and a cellular telephone to rent people vacation properties he did not own, or which did not exist.

Police say victims responded to classified newspaper ads placed in publications as far away as Massachusetts.

(Copyright 2001 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

Author: 6 - ABC, Action News