Woman charged with rent-to-pawn scheme

A woman who decided to rent to pawn instead of renting to own faces charges of hindering secured creditors for absconding with rented property.

The defendant, Kimberly Breedlove, 32, is charged with hindering secured creditors, namely Rent-A-Center, and is set for a hearing June 12.

Breedlove was charged after she and her fianc? rented to own a large LCD television, a stereo microsystem, and a bedroom set on March 26. It was about a month later the couple?s landlord called Rent-A-Center to tell them a mattress from the bedroom set had been found in their old apartment. The rest of the rented items were not there.

News only got worse for Rent-A-Center a week later when they were called by police investigator Tony Jenkins, who looks for stolen items by examining pawn tickets from local pawn shops. Jenkins told the rental center that someone had pawned the TV at E-Z Pawn Shop the day after it was rented. The TV was valued at $1,300. The rest of the missing items, including the bedroom suite and stereo, are valued at $1,700.

The agreement signed by the couple specifically forbids pawning the property or moving it without permission. Rent-A-Center revealed its last payment was received April 11.