BENTON COUNTY, ARKANSAS, Ark. — A Fort Smith man has been arrested after allegedly creating a fake real estate company and scamming people out of thousands of dollars.
Cody Lee Hill, 22, was booked into the Benton County jail on Dec. 15. Court documents say that Hill lives in Fort Smith.
Between two separate cases, Hill faces eight counts of computer fraud, one count of felony theft of property, and seven counts of misdemeanor theft of property.
In the first case, an affidavit says that a report was filed on April 27, 2023, to the Springdale Police Department (SPD) by a woman who claimed she was scammed out of $775 by Hill after he created a fake advertisement through Craigslist for a rental home.
The affidavit says that the woman claimed she used a money transfer app to pay Hill several deposits after he had provided two false names and a false realty company, where he had created three more false identities as employees and owner.
According to the affidavit, the woman gave police the number that she was in contact with, and it was traced to Hill. Police called the suspect and he claimed that his phone number was being used by an ex-Craigslist employer to scam people. Hill advised that he was getting the phone calls for the fake ads. He also told police that he had reported the activity to the Paris Police Department and Conway Police Department.
Court documents say that an SPD detective contacted Conway police, who informed that there was no such case.
The detective then contacted Paris police. The police chief advised that they had known Hill since childhood, and that he has a gambling problem and would create situations to make himself the victim. The chief added that the department had no active cases regarding Hill as a victim, the affidavit said.
An arrest warrant was filed on Aug. 29, 2023.
In Hill's second case, an affidavit says that a detective with the Bentonville Police Department (BPD) was dispatched on Sept. 14 to speak with a woman who had been scammed out of $500 after contacting a man identifying himself as Nathan Smith with Nathan Smith Realty Group.
Police subpoenaed a money transfer app linked to the realty group. Information turned over to police revealed that 306 transactions had been made from July 31, 2023, to Oct. 6, 2023. Over 40 of the transactions were identified as for rent, application fees, holding fees, and deposits made out to the realty group, according to court documents.
The account was traced back to Hill, who is accused of creating the fake realty group and related identity. Court filings say that throughout the investigation, at least seven more victims were identified, each claiming to have been scammed out of varying amounts of money. Court documents suggest multiple fake identities and realty companies were named in victim reports.
Police later spoke to a friend of Hill's, who said he was bragging about the activity.
"[Hill's friend] said Cody would frequently brag about never being short of money and if he would run out of money, he would simply defraud someone else," the affidavit said.
According to court documents, police are still tracking down victims, believing that there could be more.
"The CashApp return, belonging to Cody Hill, showed a transaction history of over $10,700.00 from July 31 to October 6, 2023, related to rental fees, deposits, rent, and applications related to the Smith Realty activities. This is only two months of activity for an account that has existed since March of 2021. Many of the victims remain unidentified and are gradually being located through other agency networking," the affidavit said.
Court documents say that police continued to attempt to contact Hill, who at one point allegedly attempted to impersonate a woman over the phone.
Hill eventually spoke to police and denied any wrongdoing. "Cody repeatedly said he was going to get a lawyer because he had done nothing wrong, and his finances were a result of being hit by an 18-wheeler and a subsequent lawsuit," the affidavit said.
Court documents say that during a phone conversation with police on Nov. 20, Hill said that he had left the state on vacation, acquired a lawyer, and would turn himself in "when the time came."
The affidavit said that follow-up conversations with his friends and family indicated that Hill had no intention of turning himself in.
An arrest warrant was filed for this case on Nov. 29, 2023. Court documents say that Hill was located and arrested in Bay County, Florida, near Panama City. He has since been extradited back to Arkansas.
Hill has a court appearance for both cases scheduled on Jan. 22, 2024, in Benton County. He's currently being held on a $50,000 bond.
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