Before the mansion and before the McLaren super car, there was the Apple store hustle.
Mohannad Halaweh, 19, had a history of fraud prior to allegedly renting a $240,000 bright orange automobile and $12 million Glen Ellen getaway villa, according to reports.
Halaweh made away with the car and secured keys to the manse using a fake credit card, which he used to buy a gift certificate to the agency that rented him the car, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
Halaweh, in jail on $1 million bail, also allegedly used a fake credit card to rent another home around the holidays, and was arrested March 8 for trying to buy 10 iPhones and two MacBook Air laptops with a fake card at the Berkeley Apple Store, the newspaper reported.
Authorities said the teen, who lives with his family at a "modest tract" house in Rohnert Park, has skills at using the Internet but made some key mistakes.
A former basketball standout at Analy High School, Halaweh allegedly secured the car with a $13,000 credit card transaction for the gift certificate and another $5,000 credit card swipe -- also with a fake card -- to get the security deposit.
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The mansion took a $27,000 credit card charge, the newspaper reported.
Somehow, rental company Club Sportiva delivered him the car at the Sonoma County airport before it was discovered parked overnight at a supermarket in Santa Rosa, drawing suspicion, the newspaper reported.
He was arrested Wednesday in the McLaren after Club Sportiva discovered the card it had charged was bogus.
