Gwinnett County police investigators are warning potential renters to beware of ads for houses on Craigslist.

The department believes a Nevada-based company, Home Solutions Asset Company, is offering homes for rent without having a right to the properties.

"These prospective tenants or occupants, as they're called in these particular cases, are meeting with a representative of the company; someone who presents them with keys and paperwork and actually allows them into the home," says Cpl. Jake Smith.

He says detectives have found at least four homes in Gwinnett County where occupants have been scammed including Ruth Roberts who rented not one, but two homes from the company.

The first one in Lilburn she rented had window damage, significant water leaks, and no furnace.

"I started to feel uneasy when they wouldn't come and do the repairs as they said they would," she tells WSB's Sandra Parrish.

Roberts was told she could have the repairs made herself and deduct that amount from her $800 monthly rent. When she asked to move out and have her deposit and first month's rent returned, she was told she could move into a second home on Stancrest Lane in Lawrenceville.

Both of the houses she rented from the company had had the deadbolts removed from the front doors.

"When they brought me into the house I thought well maybe everything is legit because how can they have access to different homes," she says.

But it was the neighbors who notified the homeowner, who had moved to New York, that someone was living in the house.

Four days later, police showed up at Roberts' door and explained she had no right to be there.

Detectives followed the trail to Chrischon Ellis, who herself had rented a home from the same company in June.  When warned at the time by code enforcement officers of a possible scam, Ellis refused the move.

Smith says the woman ended up taking a job with the company as the secretary for the Atlanta representative facilitating clients for him including Roberts.

Ellis has been charged with theft by taking and detectives are currently working to make more arrests in the case.

Smith says the company appears to be operating in other states including California and Nevada and the department plans to work with other agencies to go after the owners.

Meantime, while Roberts is out about $2,000 including her deposit, rent, and repairs, she was able to work out a legitimate lease with the real owner and can stay.