Almost everyone has had the frustrating experience of discovering that the package they had just delivered to their front porch was stolen. However, a single mother fell victim to a far more costly theft when someone took her concrete slab driveway.
“I came home and my driveway was gone,” Ms. Brochu told CNN News, laughing in disbelief.
According to the Orange County, USA resident, the problems began when she put her home up for sale in early December.
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One day her son told her that people had come to the house to measure the driveway. The boy counted no less than five different entrepreneurs within a few days.
Ms. Brochu interviewed one of them, who told her that a man named “André” had contacted him to get a quote for replacing the driveway.
The contractor said André posed as the owner and gave Ms. Brochu André's phone number.
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Text messages from the contractor indicate that André received an offer of $7,200 (C$9,549) to replace the driveway and that he accepted the price. However, André said he could not meet the contractor to give him the deposit.
When the now-suspicious contractor demanded full payment and proof of ownership before work began, Andre cut off communication.
Ms. Brochu called the Orange County police, who in turn called André.
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“They said he said it was a mistake,” she recalled. “He simply got the address wrong, otherwise nothing should have happened.”
However, the following week his paved driveway disappeared. Ms. Brochu was therefore on an unpaved path.
“I was in an incredible state of shock,” said real estate agent Rocki Sanchez, who hired Ms. Brochu to sell her home. “I've never seen that before. This has never happened to me or anyone in our office.”
According to a document she provided to WFTV, officers met with Ms. Brochu at her home on Tuesday to investigate and began a criminal misconduct investigation.
She explains that they called André again, who claimed he had nothing to do with the disappearance of the driveway before hanging up.
“I just want to find the person who did this because it's not right that they targeted me and my family for this,” she said.
Luckily for the owner, her story was picked up by the media and her plight was brought to attention.
A Cox Media Group radio sponsor offered to install a new driveway for Ms. Brochu for free because she was desperate to sell her home on time.