After Alex Miller’s roommate suddenly moved out in early 2017, the Philadelphia resident needed help paying the bills, and fast. Enter Jed Creek, a New York-based Pennsylvania native looking for “affordable housing” while taking care of his elderly mother and a brother who, per Miller, had “problems with lawsuits.” (NY Mag notes that Creek’s brother was supposedly dealing with Hepatitis C complications.) 

He seemed friendly, intelligent, and well-spoken, and everything seemed to check out — Creek was a lawyer by trade who was working as a tutor at that time, and he had a legitimate-looking website. Miller admitted feeling uncomfortable with Creek’s direct approach at first, but since he was willing to write her a check, fill out the paperwork, and move into her apartment on the same day that they met in person for the first time, she agreed. 

It didn’t take long, though, before Miller started to notice something was amiss with this Jed Creek fellow. For one, he didn’t just move in with his dog — he brought his cat with him and said nothing about this beforehand. Not an issue for most people, but definitely one if you’re allergic to cats, as Miller admitted she is. But the real issues started when he repeatedly avoided signing documents required by the property management company. Then, he rearranged her furniture without permission and used all her chairs to create a makeshift “desk and table” for his room. Pressed for an explanation, Creek purportedly gaslighted Miller by saying that it was “ridiculous” to have six chairs for an apartment shared by only two people. However, the worst was yet to come from this strange, increasingly difficult man …