Serial squatter allegedly exploits dozens of Malibu homeowners and problem could get worse due to LA wildfires

A Malibu real estate agent warned California homeowners about the need to protect themselves after a serial squatter reportedly targeted the beachfront community for years, a problem she said could become worse after the Los Angeles wildfires.“I don’t know how she got away with it for so long in Malibu with the amount of people that she did,” Liz Benichou, a Malibu real estate agent and lifelong resident of the area, explained to Fox News Digital about the accusations against Ellie Mae McNulty. “It’s a very small, tight-knit community.You see the same people.

You get this familiarity.You think that everyone’s like you because we’re all doing the same thing, so you kind of gain that trust.

You live in this bubble in Malibu.”McNulty, an actor and screenwriter, according to her biography, allegedly swindled dozens of Malibu homeowners over the last decade, charming her way into their lives before becoming a nightmare roommate, Vanity Fair first reported.“First of all, how she’s been able to do this for so many years without getting caught, I think that just has to do with her overall charm.I think she’s a predator, and she finds people that are weak that she can prey on,” Benichou said.According to Vanity Fair, McNulty met 65-year-old Alden Marin in 2021 at a beach at Point Dume, where the two shared a pleasant exchange, before Marin opened his home to her, as she claimed she was “waiting for her new place to get ready.” But days quickly turned to weeks, then a month, then two, and Marin’s sister reported a change in McNulty happened, and she continued to make excuses about why she could not provide rent. “People really feel as though it’s a very tight-knit, secure community.

Why would anyone want to take advantage of that? But again, people do.And it’s almost easy to get away with if you’re consistently showing your face, like this predator seemed to do,” Benichou said.“People in L.A.

want to see people who seem special...