Editor’s Note: Due to several factors — no charges were filed in connection with the following incidents so the Daphne Bulletin respects all parties’ privacy rights, yet we believe our readers could learn a lesson from this “nightmare roommate” story — the newspaper has used fictitious names.

Photo illustration by Thomas Boni

DAPHNE, Ala. — Last fall, “Rebecca,” a mid-30s architectural engineer, found herself burdened by the economic recession. Realizing she could find some relief if she subletted her two-bedroom Daphne apartment, she posted an ad on Craigslist, a Web site that allows free classified listings. She sought a roommate with ideal characteristics like cleanliness and being pet friendly; she has three cats and a dog.

She chose the social-advertising site because she previously connected with a 19-year-old woman and had fair results. The arrangement lasted three months and ended prematurely due to a major flaw: the young woman couldn’t make rent. “The first girl that moved in here was just too young,” Rebecca said. “She couldn’t handle the responsibility.” The 19-year-old bounced checks and relied on her family’s financial support.

Hoping for a better outcome, Rebecca connected with a 24-year-old man, “Steve,” and asked her apartment manager to run a background check as a courtesy and for the apartment complex’s safety. She said it seemed like a reasonable request and said the manager agreed to run the search. “I trusted and relied on that apartment complex running the checks they said they would,” Rebecca said. “You’ve got to, in today’s times, take the necessary steps in order to protect yourself. Run criminal background checks, go to the Daphne Police Department, do what you need to do.”

Thinking Steve’s background checked out, she met with him and he shared details about his life. He said he left his wife, having learned he was not the biological father of her eldest child; he also said he was the relative of a prominent politican.

Soon after, he moved in — and, Rebecca said, it wasn’t long before she noticed flaws more serious than those of her prior roommate. She discovered that money was missing from her wallet; change disappeared from coin jars.

More thefts occurred.

“He stole a computer and a VCR because those items were in his room,” she said, referring to the furnished space. Steve’s transgressions included a pornography habit that mounted unauthorized charges on the cable bill. “This last roommate … watched porn on my television like 10 or 12 times,” Rebecca said, adding that the adult-film orders added $150 to her bill. 

Throughout all of this, the persona Steve presented during introductions slowly unraveled. For instance, Rebecca learned that the man’s last name was spelled differently from that of the politican he claimed as kin; also, Steve had two children, but he was never married.

He also had a lengthy criminal history. The Daphne Bulletin searched police records and learned that Steve was charged with property theft in 2002, second-degree burglary, unauthorized use of a vehicle and marijuana possession in 2003 and property theft just last month.

Rebecca learned that the apartment manager never gave a background check on Steve; the manager only checked his credit scores. “This person never would have gotten into my home had there been a real background check,” she said.  

Enough was enough.

Rebecca reported the man to authorities, but she said police told her the thefts were a domestic, “he said, she said” incident, and no charges were filed.

Also, little could be done about the lease. Rebecca said the apartment manager would not allow her to terminate the agreement without payment: one-and-a-half month’s rent — just over $1,000 — to void the contract.

Rebecca said she told an attorney about the situation and was surprised at the response she received. “The attorney told me to find another roommate to take the (financial) burden off,” she said.

The Daphne Bulletin briefed Daphne attorney Elizabeth Citrin on the case, and she agreed that little could be done —  but it didn’t have to be that way.

“She really should have gotten the promise from the complex to do a background check in writing,” Citrin said. “Then, she would have had a recourse claim against the complex.

“At the end, the responsibility of doing a check is on her.”

Rebecca has since found a new roommate who pays their bills on time and doesn’t steal — but that doesn’t make up for damage done, she said.

“With this economy, I think people are trying to do whatever they can to pay their bills and survive,” she said; still, she agreed with Citrin’s assessment. “I’m responsible. I’m pretty much stuck. I’m pretty much burned and there’s nothing I can do.”

Though Rebecca said she should have properly vetted her former roommate, she counted her blessings.

“I came out of this so much better than I could have,” she said.

“I could have been dead.”