Moore Apartment Complex Threatening To Evict Tenants After Rent Checks Stolen

Cameron Ward is packing up. Soon he’ll be homeless because he says he paid his rent once for September and can’t afford to pay the same rent twice.

Here’s what happened. Ward and at least four other tenants at the Springs of Moore Apartments in Moore say they put their rent money orders in a drop box, like the complex told them to do. But according to Moore police, someone broke into the box, stole the checks, altered them and cashed them. 

Ward has copies of the forged returned money order. Still, the complex is threatening to kick him out if he doesn’t pay again. 

"Unfortunately our money orders were cashed, so there's no regaining that money. And it's gone,” Ward said. “I’m working two jobs. I can't afford to pay another $550 this month."

Elizabeth Larios is in the same boat. She was so leery of the drop box she videotaped herself depositing her rent. But she says the manager at Springs of Moore says that’s not enough proof that she actually paid and she’ll have to pay again. 

"So I even have the stub and the receipt of the money order that I used to pay the rent and so this is proof that I paid. So I took it to her and she said if it's been cashed then you're going to have to pay again," Larios said.

Tenants say the checks were stolen while they were in the possession of the apartment complex, so they shouldn’t be held responsible. Attorney David Slane agrees.

"They need to take an honest look at what really happened,” Slane said, referring to the apartment management. “You had a burglary. Number one, you know. Number two there's police reports, you know that. Number three this is how your residents, sometimes for years have been paying their rent. You know that. You got proof that these people have paid. You know that. At what point are you going to stop pretending like they didn't pay the rent like you said they could and give them credit?"

A woman in the apartment office refused to comment, and the owners of the complex did not respond to our request for a comment.

Ward says he doesn’t want to fight with the apartment complex, but he can’t afford to pay rent twice when he did exactly what apartment management told him to do. 

"I’d like to stay,” Ward said. “It's not a perfect place, but it's home."