Bakersfield police have eliminated a woman in a rental scam investigation whose picture was catfished.
"We apologize for putting out the wrong person, but the evidence pointed to that person originally, so that's why we did it," said Sergeant Gary Carruesco, BPD.
Originally, BPD officials said on March 1st, the suspect contacted victims by phone, in response to a Facebook search for rental property.
READ: Nicole Ortiz says her identity has been stolen and she is not to blame for rental scam
According to the BPD, the suspect posed as the property manager, agreed to meet the victims at a vacant residence, which she accessed by unknown means.
The suspect then had the victims complete a rental application and give her a $1,300 deposit for the property.
READ: Nicole Ortiz's attorney says Ortiz is victim of identity theft
The victims told BPD that they would move in and later learned that the suspect was not the property manager and had no legal right to show or rent them the property.
BPD describes the suspect as a Hispanic female, 25-35, brown hair, and using the name “Nicole Ortiz.”
Police have cleared that woman as a suspect, and are continuing to search for the suspected scam artist.
In April, Ortiz's attorney told 23ABC the entire incident was a case of stolen identity, and BPD said identity theft is a common occurrence.
"People stealing other people's photographs off of Facebook, it's very easy to do so they can be posing as somebody with a different picture," said Sgt. Carruesco. "One of our biggest obstacles in these cases is the fact that there are so many of them."
Ortiz was not available for an interview Tuesday, but her attorney said she is relieved it's all over.
