SAN DIEGO -- Sheila and Marc Helfrich signed a one-year lease on a Murrieta home. They paid first and last and a security deposit for a total of $6,000. But before they could even get out of packing boxes the house was headed to foreclosure.

"Someone is making money on this and it's not the bank," said Marc Helfrich.

The catch here is the man they were paying isn't the owner, and he wasn't paying the mortgage.

Marc believes the man "had already stopped making payments before we even came into the picture."

We found out the real owner is John Akridge. He said he met a real estate investor at the VA hospital where Akridge was working after he returned from a tour of duty. Akridge said he wanted to get involved in real estate. "I wanted him to be a mentor to me to learn the business," said Akridge.

Instead, Akridge said the investor, Len Holland, used his credit to buy homes like the one Marc and Sheila rented. Akridge thought everything was fine until the lenders started calling and Holland started disappearing.

Akridge said he knew something was wrong, he wanted Holland to take over, he had had enough of it.

The I-Team spent a month trying to find Len Holland.

We visited a Temecula property we believe he had purchased through Akridge. It too was in foreclosure.

We tried Holland's last known address three different times. It is just miles from the VA hospital where Akridge met Holland. But no one ever answered the door. We found a phone number for Holland on his web sites: ftminvestors.com, ihatemyhomeloan.info, and theprivatehardmoneystore.com. Each website promises help for homeowners. Holland eventually answered our calls but refused to meet us.

He did say that he was not to blame and that the Helfrich's stopped paying their rent. They say they stopped paying when the house went on the auction block. Marc said, "I couldn't in good faith say here's the money because you say so. The fact of the matter is the house is being foreclosed on."

Stopping payment is exactly what real estate attorney Allen Gruber said they should have done. He said, "I would tell them not to pay the rent and defend on that action they can also sue for damages for whatever their damages happen to be."

Marc said, "We have all the money. At any point if he would come to me with legal proof that everything is on the up and up, I would give him cash, check, certified. I have it in the account."

Sheila and Marc repeatedly tried to contact Holland. He never returned their calls but he did try and evict them. The case was dropped when the bank took back the house.

We went to the district attorney with the facts we found.

Deputy DA Steve Robinson said, "Clearly those types of facts involve a misrepresentation and can be the basis of grand theft."

He believes in this crippled market renters need to be extra vigilant, and make sure the property they are renting isn't headed for foreclosure. He reminds renters that they can go down to the county recorder's office and see if the property is in default.

Tired of the hassle, Sheila and Marc have decided not to sue Holland even though they lost the place they were living in and their deposit. As a result of Holland's guidance, Akridge has lost all of the homes in his name and ruined his credit. He has also just been deployed to Iraq. Holland is still advertising the answer to saving your home on his websites.