Tampa Woman Rented Out Pasco Homes She Didn’t Own: Sheriff

NEW PORT RICHEY, FL — A 43-year-old Tampa woman faces criminal charges after Pasco County Sheriff’s deputies say she pretended to own two homes so she could rent them out to unsuspecting victims.

The case against Patricia Lamp began to unfold when the sheriff’s office learned she was renting out a home on Cantrell Street in New Port Richey and another one on Bluebird Drive without actually owning them. The problem, arrests report state, is that the real owners of the two homes were not aware that Lamp was leasing their properties.

According to reports, Lamp tried to rent the Holiday home for $800 a month. The New Port Richey property was intended for an $850-a-month lease.

“I made contact with the defendant while she was in the middle of signing the ‘rent contract,’” the arresting deputy wrote in the report.

After doing a little digging, the deputy learned that Lamp had a number of active felony warrants out for her arrest from Hillsborough County. It seems law enforcement officers were looking for her on grand theft and unlicensed real estate broker charges. She was brought in on those warrants and now faces scheme to defraud charges out of Pasco County.

Lamp was booked into the Land O’ Lakes Jail on Nov. 15.

Booking photo courtesy of the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office