HARRIS COUNTY, Texas – Four people are accused of an elaborate rental fraud scheme targeting more than a dozen Harris County properties involving a stolen identity.
Two of the suspects, Benjamin and Nazly Greene, went viral in 2022 during a road rage shooting caught on camera that made national headlines. The couple is now charged with engaging in organized criminal activity.
Suspected ringleader Harold Doyle and co-conspirator Teresa Zuluaga have also been charged with engaging in organized criminal activity after an extensive and at times undercover investigation by the Houston Police Department’s Major Offenders Division.
The group would allegedly rent properties using the stolen identity of a Harris County woman and then in at least one case, list the property on Facebook Marketplace and lease it to someone else, according to court records.
Many of the properties are in the Katy area.
The identity theft victim, who didn’t wish to speak publicly, told KPRC 2′s Bryce Newberry over the phone she had no idea her name or information was being used to rent the homes for leases totaling more than $330,000, according to court records.
Doyle used to be a realtor but his license was revoked in 2021, according to the Texas Real Estate Commission. He operated out of an office suite off the North Beltway where a sign outside lists it as a tax business.
Doyle has done the identity theft victim’s taxes for years, she said.
Records show police arrested Doyle at that office in mid-September with a fake ID in her name with a San Antonio man’s driver’s license number on it. Doyle also had “extensive amounts of fraudulent real estate applications,” according to records.
Police first got alerted about the potential fraudulent leases when contacted by a realtor who told them a lease applicant provided paystubs that showed an income of over $350,000 per year, according to records. They were trying to obtain an inexpensive rental and move in the same day.
At least 13 properties got rented using the identity theft victim’s name, according to records, and in at least one case, a tenant told investigators he found the listing by Benjamin Greene on Facebook Marketplace.
“We don’t use Marketplace, Facebook to put them on, we don’t use Craigslist,” said Troy Cothran, a board member at the Houston Association of Realtors who has been a licensed real estate agent for decades.
He warned that Houston is a hot market for rental scams.
“It’s time for people to realize that they can be the victim. And what they need to do is they need to stay off the sites that are not really proven to be accurate,” he said.
The tenant who found the listing on Facebook Marketplace also told investigators he provided the group a $300 deposit via Zelle and $4,465 in money orders delivered to the office off the North Beltway.
The tenant later found out from the landlord that his deposit and first month’s rent hadn’t been paid and that the lease he obtained was through fraud, according to records.
“We’re not supposed to accept monies going into our account even for a few moments. When we do that, we have a license violation,” Cothran said, urging caution when it comes to paying using that method.
During the investigation, police found 62 properties the accused fraudsters had been discussing in a WhatsApp group chat called “Officina,” according to charging papers.
In one of the cars that belonged to Nazly Greene, investigators found a clipboard with “dozens of other real estate clients/leads.”
Zuluaga told police she’d get 40 percent of each transaction on properties she’d successfully obtain keys for and the rest of the money got split between Doyle and Benjamin Greene, all at Doyle’s direction, according to court records.
All of the suspects are now out of jail on bond.
The Greene’s road rage case has also been settled in court: A grand jury no-billed him on an aggravated assault with a deadly weapon charge, while she pled guilty to misdemeanor disorderly conduct, records show.