I have to first post a disclaimer: I was a somewhat-regular poster back in my probation officer days, but now that I'm in the private practice of law, I am what AP would term an interloper. I respect that this forum is first and foremost for prosecutor-types rather than interlopers, so I beg your pardon. For those able and willing to provide some thoughts on this, your help is certainly appreciated.

I am representing a pro bono client who leased her house to a tenant when her job moved her out of state. Tenant moved in and has not paid rent since. I am currently representing her in the eviction proceedings. Tenant is demonstrating that he is very well versed in how to delay the proceedings to maximize the amount of time he can remain in the house before a writ of possession is issued. (For example, when he appealed the JP judgment he did not pay his court costs, so the County Court has refused to accept my filings to dismiss the appeal until he pays the court costs, and the JP court says it is without jurisdiction to do anything about the defective appeal.) During my due diligence on Tenant, a public records search suggested that he has gone by other names, and that using those other names he has been the subject of at least three prior eviction proceedings. There are also several judgments and tax leins. (The management company apparently missed this.) When Tenant submitted his lease application for my client's house, he checked the "No" box to questions asking if he has ever been evicted, ever been late on rent, or ever had credit problems. Although I have not yet been able to confirm, I also suspect that Tenant did not accurately report his employment and income. Assuming I (or law enforcement) can nail down that he is the same person who is the subject of the prior evictions, it appears to me that his deception in the leasing application was used to induce my client to sign the lease. Do you think that these facts meet the requirement for a violation of PC 32.46(a)(1)? Any thoughts whether you would take such a case? I know it would be easy to brush it off as a civil matter, but this guy has an apparent history of doing this, and there are also indications that he has used fraudulent surety bonds at least three times to support appeals from eviction orders and delay his eventual ejection from the property. It seems like if anyone is good for a criminal charge, he is. I will continue to pursue the civil remedies, and I am not looking for law enforcement to do my work for me. It just seems like this guy has a long enough history that we can be pretty certain ejecting him from this property is only creating an opportunity for the next victim. Anything you can suggest I do to develop the information that would help the PD/DA work the case?

Now my question that is purely for my curiosity: Assuming that these facts support a prosecution under 32.46, how would the value of the property/pecuniary interest be calculated in this situation? The value of the property? The value of the unpaid rents to date? The value of the rents for the full term of the lease?

Thanks for your help!