A Texas woman says a guest she rented a room to through Airbnb robbed her and then harassed her for weeks, and that police and the company told her there was little they could do. She shared her account on Twitter and spoke with the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
According to the Star-Telegram, Alavia began renting out an empty room in the apartment she shares with her sister in September. She says that on October 11th she rented to a man named Leonard, 31, who seemed normal, and gave him a key before leaving the apartment.
Alavia says she came home a few hours later to find the place ransacked, with her bedroom door forced open and her belongings destroyed. She says $500 in cash that belonged to her sister was missing. “I saw my door was cracked open, the lights were on, my closet had been gone through,” she told the paper.
She says she got Leonard out of the apartment and called police, who told her an arrest was unlikely unless he admitted to the crime. Alavia also says she contacted Airbnb, and that a representative asked her to fill out a conflict resolution form and wait three days. After that, she says, the company told her it does not cover cash losses and that she would have to start the process again.
Alavia says Leonard kept contacting her through text messages and the Airbnb messaging system, pushing to see her and asking for a place to stay. She says she went back to detectives, who told her they could not do more. She also says she learned he had recently been arrested in a separate matter, though that claim comes from her account and was not confirmed in the reporting we reviewed.
Hoping to get proof, Alavia says she texted Leonard about the theft, and that he replied he had just gotten out of jail and wanted to see her. When he said he was coming to her apartment, she says police told her they could not send help until he arrived. She says he was arrested for trespassing when he showed up.
Alavia says Leonard called her from jail several times, and that a day later he messaged her on Airbnb again after being released on bond. She says she asked a detective why no one told her he had been released, and was told police cannot call people every time someone is let out.
Leonard’s side of the story was not included in the account she shared, and Baller Alert could not independently verify the details she describes. Everything above is her account and what was reported by the Star-Telegram.
