You can take the crook out of jail, but you can’t take the crook off the internet.

Paul Woodrow Bakovich, 37, was arrested two times in August of 2009 for a scam using houses that he does not own and a Craigslist add to lure unsuspecting would-be renters into giving him money. He is again being investigated for the same crime by the King County Sherrif’s Office.

Bakovich, who pled guilty last October to three counts of second-degree theft, has not yet been charged in the investigation, but investigators say he is using the same scam.

Bakovich, who works his scheme primarily on the Eastside including Kirkland, where he was arrested last year, lured a Kirkland woman with a Craigslist add in March. Bakovich showed the woman an apartment in Sammamish in the 500 block of 225th Lane Northeast. After she agreed to rent the apartment, Bakovich asked for a $200 deposit in cash. Despite giving the man the money, the insistence on cash was a red flag for the woman. She went home and did an internet search for Bakovich and found he had been jailed for fraud.

She called Bakovich and he allegedly told the woman that the apartment had been sold and that her money would be refunded. The Kirkland woman never received her refund, despite numerous calls and e-mails to Bakovich.

Investigators say that Bakovich used the same e-mail address for the scam in March as he did for at least one of the scams in August.

Bakovich was arrested in April on warrants for driving with a suspended license and police found receipts linked to the current investigation in his truck, according to court documents. He is currently being held in the King County Jail.

The convicted felon served three months in the King County Jail and was released in November with time served for the previous crimes.