Caseyville, Illinois, man arrested for home repair fraud

As people age, their willingness to undertake laborious home repair tasks diminishes. A man from Caseyville has recently been charged with twice trying to take advantage of elderly people by collecting money for home maintenance jobs and then never performing the work.

According to police, the man negotiated a contract to repair a driveway and collected $750 from the elderly homeowner. The homeowner now alleges that the suspect never returned to do the work. A similar incident is alleged to have occurred in March. The same suspect told an 82-year-old homeowner that he would trim his trees and allegedly collected $250. As with the earlier incident, the suspect allegedly never returned to perform the work. According to police, the suspect told the man who paid for driveway repairs that he worked for a paving firm in Collinsville.

Police have arrested the suspect, but have not released any additional information about either incident. The suspect is being held in the Madison County jail on bail of $60,000.

The fact that both alleged victims are elderly will weigh heavily against the defendant, if he should go to trial. Nevertheless, the suspect is entitled to be presumed innocent unless and until he is proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Anyone facing charges for similar crimes may benefit from seeking advice from an experienced criminal defense attorney. A knowledgeable lawyer can provide a helpful evaluation of the law and evidence that will apply to the case and suggest helpful defense strategies. If appropriate, a defense lawyer may also try to negotiate a favorable plea bargain.