A Merrimack man faces theft by deception charges after allegedly scamming a woman with a bogus lease agreement for a property he never owned. Sixty-year-old Antonio D. Silva was arrested last Saturday when police caught on to his fraudulent scheme, initiating their investigation in October, as reported by the Union Leader.
Silva, hailing from Country Club Lane, allegedly duped Anna Mazzarella Anderson by pretending to be the owner of a house scheduled for renovations. Anderson signed what she believed was a legitimate lease agreement, handing over a security deposit along with the first month's rent, amounting to approximately $5,500. Merrimack Sgt. Brandon Gagnon mentioned, "It would normally be a civil issue with landlords and tenants," but the case turned criminal when they discovered Silva had no authority to rent the property, as per a report by WMUR.
While Anderson was promised a move-in following the completion of the said renovations, the home remained unprepared, compelling her and her children to stay in a hotel. Anderson ended up paying for an additional room due to space constraints, and her health suffered greatly - an incident culminated in a hospital visit where she endured a torn abdominal wall caused by severe coughing. "My mom would have lost me. My siblings would have lost me. I would have just been gone," Anderson conveyed her distress in an interview with WMUR.
Silva, while released on personal recognizance and awaiting his January 22 court appearance, sees himself the subject of more extensive scrutiny. The Attorney General's Office has confirmed that it is investigating the allegations against him. Furthermore, a former employee and carpenter, Dan Oliverio, has called out Silva's deceitful actions, claiming he was conned out of $2,000 by the same man, stating, "You can see the shuffling and the weaseling and the type of character that we're dealing with here," in a damning accusation to WMUR. Despite these accusations, Silva has denied any wrongdoing in a previous discussion with the news outlet.
