By admin 
SCOTTSDALE, AZ (AZFamily) — Police say a real estate agent helped foil a Phoenix man’s plan to sell a Scottsdale condo that belonged to another man with the same name earlier this year.
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Nathan Lucas Underwood posed as the owner and stole the spare key for the condo near Scottsdale Road on Rancho Vista Drive, north of Camelback Road, on April 17, after walking to the concierge office and showing the worker his Arizona ID, police said.
Court documents said the worker gave Underwood the key because Underwood’s ID matched the name of the owner.
The real condo owner, who lives in Nebraska and bought the condo with his business partner under their LLC, Zella Inc., learned about the theft after the cleaning crew tried to get into the condo April 20, but the concierge office did not have the spare key.
Two days later, Underwood met with a real estate agent at the condo to try to sell it. The agent said Underwood reached out via Zillow in late February and told the agent a “crazy” story about how he acquired an LLC and the condo, court records said.
Police said Underwood tried to sell the condo for $1.3 million even though it was worth up to $1.6 million since he wanted to sell quickly.
Court paperwork said the real estate agent told police Underwood did not ask about the realtor’s commission and parked in the guest parking, instead of the parking spot for the condo owner, which were red flags.
Investigators said the real owner flew out to Arizona on April 27 and saw that dozens of clothing items and decorative items worth about $14,000 had been stolen.
He also said he got a FedEx package from a title company as a fraud-prevention move, alerting him that someone was trying to sell his condo.
He reported what happened April 28 to police.
Court records also said Underwood registered a company called Zella LLC through the Arizona Corporation Commission on March 2, mimicking the real owner’s Zella Inc.
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Underwood returned to the homeowners association office for the condo, trying to sell the condo again July 2. Security staff recognized he was not the real owner and photographed his ID.
When officers talked to the real estate agent, they said they got Underwood’s phone number and a description of his car.
Police said they learned he lived in north-central Phoenix and tracked him down to a Bank of America Monday at Tatum and Shea boulevards. He was arrested as he was leaving, and police said he had a meth pipe in his pocket.
During an interview with police, officers said Underwood was not surprised when asked about his car and, when confronted, replied, “I’m not doing fraud. I, I get it. It looks like I am very much.”
Underwood was booked into jail on felony charges of fraudulent schemes, second-degree burglary and aggravated taking the identity of another person.
Investigators said he was previously arrested on April 23 for pointing a gun at a repo man trying to repossess his Volvo. After his arrest, he was released to a psychiatric facility, court paperwork said.
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