FLORENCE, AZ (CBS5) -
A Chandler couple who offered to help prospective home sellers show their properties has been arrested and accused of stealing from those same homeowners, according to the Pinal County Sheriff's Office.
Deanna and John Gaw were arrested and booked into a Pinal County jail Tuesday after deputies said they attempted to enter a home for sale in Saddlebrooke as part of an ongoing scam.
The homeowner said a woman identifying herself as a real estate agent named Carol Porter called her and asked that the owners leave their home while Porter showed some clients the property, according to a sheriff's office spokesman.
The owner called her own agent and learned the name Carol Porter was not listed as a licensed agent.
The homeowners remained home and surprised the couple, later identified as the Gaws, when they arrived at the home, the spokesman said.
The Gaws told the homeowners they would return at a later time, got into a dark SUV with Nevada license plates and left.
The homeowners called the Pinal County Sheriff's Office and reported the encounter.
Several elderly homeowners had called the sheriff's office earlier Tuesday to report what they believed was a scam involving a woman who identified herself as Carol Porter.
A Pinal sheriff's deputy found the car westbound on Saddlebrooke Boulevard and forced it to stop. The deputy said he noticed a number of women's hand bags and clothing in the back seat. Deanna Gaw, 40, claimed they were hers.
John Gaw, 43, a licensed real estate agent, said the couple was in the neighborhood looking for properties to purchase when the deputy asked him to get out of the SUV.
The deputy said he found surgical gloves on the floorboard next to a silver collector's coin.
John Gaw also had surgical gloves, jewelry and a lock pick in his pockets, according to the spokesman.
Both Gaws were arrested and booked into the PCSO Adult Detention Center on charges related to the burglaries. They bonded out of jail, the spokesman said.
Copyright 2012 CBS 5 (Meredith Corporation). All rights reserved.
Deanna Gaw
John Gaw
