BAKERSFIELD, Calif. -- A situation that started as trouble with tenants ended up with four people being arrested on felony charges.

A Bakersfield landlord said people moved into his rental home without his permission after paying the deposit with a bad check. That started a much bigger case that ended with the arrests.

"I made some bad choices all the way around, but that's my bad," the landlord said. "Their bad is they took possession of the house illegally, and they trespassed, they moved in."

The landlord didn't want his name used. He said the experience has been a real ordeal.

The landlord went to the Kern County District Attorney's Office about the bad check, and the case was investigated by the "check busters" division. In early February, officers went to the house and made the four arrests.

"We served search warrants and arrest warrants on a family that was involved in a check scheme of writing checks on closed and under-funded accounts over quite a period of time," assistant chief investigator Tam Hodgson told Eyewitness News.

The landlord said last fall that he advertised the large house in northeast Bakersfield for rent or rent-to-buy. He was contacted by one family, and started the tenant application process.

"They wrote us a check for the deposit, and at that time I let them have the key so they could go and measure the house," the landlord said. "They weren't to move in."

He later found out the check was written on an account that was closed. He said he thinks the people moved into the house in early December, then he had real problems getting them out.

"You can't really use (the term) trespassing for them, because they were given the key," the landlord's wife said. They thought about changing the locks, but it was too late.

The tenants were supposed to pay a deposit of $3,250. The monthly rent was supposed to be $1,625.

On Monday, one of the tenants, Leticia Rodriguez, told Eyewitness News she did pay the deposit with a check, and when it was determined to be on a closed account, she made arrangements to make payments on that amount. The landlord disputed that claim.

Rodriguez said she paid $1,600 in cash by Dec. 2. The landlord also refuted that. He said he only eventually got about $1,000 cash from the tenants.

The landlord started the eviction process, but that could take months. In the meantime, he did have the right to go through the house, which he did, worried about damage. The landlord said he was disturbed by the walk-through.

"In less than 28 days, they did more destruction than people have done with the renter we had in there for a year-and-a-half," he said.

Eyewitness News went to the home to ask the tenants about the payments and the landlord's contention that they had taken possession illegally. A woman who answered through the peep-hole in the front door disputed that.

"No, there's a contract here with my mother's name, and there's a contract with my sister's name," she said. The woman would not give her name.

But, the landlord insisted that was not the case.

"They never signed an agreement with us," he said.

And, from the district attorney's office, Hodgson said there were serious violations.

"Our concerns is that they have no legal right to be here. The landlord took a check from them that never cleared, he never gave them permission to be here," Hodgson told Eyewitness News. "And they went ahead and moved in anyway."

Hodgson said there were even more problems, that led to the other charges.

"We also determined they were using false identities to pass checks to procure rental agreements," Hodgson said.

Officers said 11 people were in the house at the time they went in, including some children.

Leticia Rodriguez was charged with three felony charges of insufficient funds, one count of receiving stolen property and trespass.

Yesenia Rodriguez was charged with three felony bad check charges, identification theft and trespass.

Raul Rodriguez was charged with three bad check charges and trespass.

And, lastly, Joseph Daniel Rodriguez was charged with one felony count of insufficient funds.

The suspects were in court last week and have court dates set at the end of March. They showed Eyewitness News copies of handwritten notes that they say show payments of $1,600 for rent on Dec. 2 and $1,500 on Dec. 19, with a notation that it's part of a deposit.

They also had a handwritten note that is not dated showing $400 received as "remainder of rent." Although a note appears to be added saying this is "part of deposit."

The landlord maintains he only got about $1,000 in cash. He went through the eviction process, though the tenants appealed.

The house is now back in the landlord's possession, and he went through it with insurance adjusters. They have photos of extensive damage, including graffiti on walls and cabinets, damage to carpet and holes in the walls.

The landlord said the experience has been expensive and a tough lesson. From now on, he'll get help to check out potential tenants.

"There are agencies out there. They will do background checks for prospective tenants, and that's what we're going to do from now on," the homeowner said.