Men charged with scamming elder out of $90,000

HAVERHILL — Two handymen have been arrested and charged with scamming an elderly man out of $90,000 by charging him for odd jobs they did around his home.

Billy Adams, 34, of Saco and Edmond Wormwood, 33, of Biddeford were arrested Monday by state police in Maine on a warrant from Haverhill. They are charged with larceny by continuous scheme.

Police also issued a warrant for the arrest of Michael Mills, 28, of Arundel, Maine, and said they plan to charge him with the same crime. Mills may be working in Massachusetts for an unknown contractor, and may potentially be pulling similar scams on other victims, police said.

The three men showed up at the 92-year-old man's home in February in a red GMC pickup with Maine license plates and offered to do small jobs, police said.

Detective Glenn Fogarty, who is leading the investigation, said they began with some tree work, got into painting railings and cleaning the basement and were charging an exorbitant amount of money for substandard work.

Fogarty said police were tipped to the scam by the victim's bank, which noticed an irregular spending pattern and put a freeze on his accounts. The bank then notified police.

The three men went to the victim's home on April 6 to pick up another check from him and then tried to cash it at his bank, police said. The bank held the check and called police. Fogarty said the men left without cashing the check and have not returned to Haverhill since. He said the men knew they were under investigation and that Adams has an open case in Maine involving similar incidents.

Haverhill police said they applied for the warrant on April 11 after Fogarty's investigation pointed to Adams, Wormwood and Mills.

Fogarty said Adams and Wormwood are being held as fugitives from justice and expects they will face a hearing in Maine before they are transported to Haverhill to face the charges here. He said they can either agree to be returned to Haverhill or fight it — which would require additional legal action for their return.

If convicted of the charge, Adams and Wormwood could be sentenced to up to 2 1/2 years in jail or 10 years in a state prison.