Serious Crimes Not Caught in AAOA Criminal Background Check
In January 2024, I paid for what AAOA identifies as their premium tenant screening report for $50 including a criminal background check. The report came back stating no criminal records were found for my potential tenant in their nationwide criminal search. I did rent to this tenant and, after becoming concerned by some of their behavior and activities, I decided to do some additional research. The Baton Rouge Clerk of Court Criminal Records Department was able to provide to me, within one day, records showing the tentant was charged with several counts of armed robbery with a firearm, home invasion and false imprisonment armed with a weapon. He pled guilty in exchange for the lesser charge of simple robbery and was sentenced to seven years. Per AAOA's request, I provided the location of the potential tenant in my request for the screening which was Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Wanting to understand how these crimes, that occurred in Baton Rouge and were readily obtainable from the Criminal Records Department, could have been missed in the screening, I reached out to AAOA and explained the situation in detail. Their response was that the 19th Judicial District Court for the Parish of East Baton Rouge is not part of the instant criminal search. They listed the following Louisiana locations as included in their instant criminal and referenced their disclaimer provided that not all courts produce instant searches, they vary by state and to contact AAOA for complete list. • LA CRIMINAL TRAFFIC • LA DOC • LA JAIL ROSTERS • LA LAFAYETTE COUNTY • LA MADISON COUNTY • LA SANTA ROSA COUNTY • LA TAMMANY PARISH COURT • LA WALTON COUNTY • LA WASHINGTON COUNTY I reached out to AAOA again noting that Louisiana has parishes, not counties, that we do not even have a Santa Rosa Parish or a Walton Parish (or County) and that we also do not have a Department of Corrections (DOC) but, a Department of Public Safety and Corrections (DPS&C). I also noted that they effectively search only 5 locations in all of Louisiana and all but one are restricted to the parish level. I do want to point out that AAOA's response stated their tenant screening services are provided by a third party, ARI, and not by AAOA and that they did acknowledge Santa Rosa and Walton are in Florida not Louisiana. Regardless, of whether they are provided by AAOA directly or a 3rd party with whom they contract, my intention is to hopefully make other landlords in Louisiana aware of what is actually include in the search when they order a premium tenant screening from AAOA.
This customer's dispute is from April 2024 and is being posted again on Trustpilot. At that time, we responded to the customer to address their issues with the information they received. It is important to note: Not all jurisdictions are covered in instant criminal searches by any tenant screening provider. This customer chose to not read warnings provided or do a county repository search on their initial applicant search. If the customer had requested a repository search, the criminal records in question would have been located. As stated above, there is no nationwide background database because not all courts participate or allow for the collection of data. This is why all criminal results, when viewed online, display a disclaimer and AAOA has terms and conditions that also cover this. For a comprehensive criminal search, a county repository search needs to be conducted. These types of searches are provided by our vendor and vary in return time and cost depending on the court. Most tenant screening providers, like TransUnion Smartmove, do NOT offer repository searches. Our recommendation is to call a tenant screening service and provide all counties or parishes an applicant has lived in for the last 7-10 years to learn if it is included in their criminal reporting. If it is not, you'll want to seek another provider to ensure you're getting a complete report or attempt to locate those records on your own as this customer did.