Serial scammer fined $2,250

The law has caught up with Magnolia landlord Diana J. Delaney ? sort of.

The serial scammer who, for three years stole as much as $36,000 in deposits from would-be renters, was found guilty of felony theft Nov. 18 and ordered by Judge Sharon S Armstrong of King County Superior Court to pay $2,250 in fines.

Yet just prior to the sentencing, some Magnolia Voice readers said Delaney continued posting on Craigslist the availability of her property on the 3800 block of 34th Avenue West. Those listings were reported as fraudulent and have since been deleted. However, one reader, unaware of Delaney?s doings, responded to the ad and? paid Delaney two-months? advance rent of $1,200.

Yet, the reader writes:

Diana showed me the room while it had been occupied by the renter (a lawyer). ?I told her that I was about to put my things [there] in advance during the weekends but then she told me that the room was not available due to broken sewer line and [the] house is all wet and the workers have to do it for weeks so I won’t be able to move in by November 1 – and few days after – she told me I could still move [in].

The renter found out about Delaney but Delaney still has her deposit.

Another reader had dealings with Delaney in October when Delaney inquired about a room the reader was renting on the Eastside, and touting her skills as an experienced ghostwriter. But, writes the reader, things soured immediately:

When I did preliminary Internet background checking on her, I discovered, among other things, that she had just pled guilty in King County Superior Court on an Alford arrangement to some $36K rental fraud on her own rented house in Magnolia. She then denied any wrongdoing, and got quite indignant?when I confronted her with these reported facts.

Delaney still has the right to an appeal. But court documents show one has yet to be filed.