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Andrea Rae Tramel is shown here in jail mugshots after two arrests in 2014.

(Multnomah County Sheriff's Office)

It was a cruel scam to pull on people looking for a new place to live.

Andrea Rae Tramel broke into four homes on the east side of Portland, authorities say. She changed the locks, advertised them for rent on Craigslist, then cashed thousands of dollars of checks after would-be renters showed up and signed on to move into two of the homes in summer 2013.

Last week, Tramel, 48, was sentenced to more than four years in prison as part of a plea deal for the scam and two other criminal episodes.

In May 2013, authorities say she slipped into a back room of the Canton Grill -- at 2610 S.E. 82nd Avenue -- and stole a stash of lottery tickets. The act fit the definition of burglary because the area was off-limits to the public, authorities say.

Last Sept. 10, Tramel was supposed to be sentenced to 1 1/3 years in prison for the Craigslist scam and the Canton Grill burglary -- and given a chance to enter a drug treatment court program when she got out of prison. But she didn't show up to Multnomah County Circuit Court for sentencing.

Police, however, found her 17 days later -- on Sept. 27 -- leaving a home she'd just burglarized near Southeast 72nd and Holgate Boulevard.

A vigilant resident had called police after Tramel knocked on his door and asked him if he was interested in hiring her for landscaping work. The resident later told police he was suspicious because Tramel -- and a man she was with -- didn't have any gardening tools.

The resident said he didn't need any landscaping work, then watched as the pair next headed to a neighboring home. They knocked on the door, then a moment later, walked behind the house. That's when the resident called police, who caught Tramel and Travis Nathan Tremblay just as they were leaving from the back door of that home.

Tremblay, 35,told police that he and

Travis Tremblay

Tramel had been pretending to be landscapers while they were casing homes to find one to burglarize.

Tremblay pleaded guilty to first-degree burglary of the Southeast Holgate home and was sentenced in November to three years of probation. He also was ordered to undergo a drug- and alcohol-evaluation and get treatment if necessary.

An investigator's report stated that Trembly was homeless and used meth daily. His wife told authorities that they'd lost a child two years ago, and that her husband fell into a depression and turned to drugs to cope.

Tramel also told an investigator in 2014 that she uses meth weekly. Tramel pleaded guilty to two counts of second-degree burglary for the Craigslist scam, and one count of first-degree burglary for the breaking into the Southeast Holgate home. The Canton Grill lottery ticket case was dismissed as part of the plea deal.

Investigators say she burglarized four homes in the Craiglist scam, in the 3800 block of Northeast 113th Avenue, the 3600 block of Northeast 114th Avenue, the 3700 block of Northeast 115th Avenue and the 11400 block of East Burnside Street.

On top of that, Tramel had made herself at home at another house that didn't belong to her, investigators say. She'd told a detective that she was living in the 12600 block of Northeast Broadway Street -- after researching the home, discovering it was vacant, then changing the locks and moving in.

In addition to four years and two months of prison, she must pay more than $3,500 in restitution to her victims. She also will be on three years of post-prison supervision.

-- Aimee Green

503-913-4197