Volusia County deputies are searching for a man they said has been offering senior citizens a service that they don't even need only to overcharge them for a poor job.
Deputies said the suspect, Gary Mitchell, 29, tells victims their driveways need resurfacing work and convinces them to trust him to do the work.
Mitchell was arrested for the same driveway operation in Arizona, and is now being sought in Central Florida.
"These crooks, it's just terrible it really is,” said an 88-year-old victim, who was only identified as Norm.
Mitchell and his workers tried to get Norm to fork over $3,200 to coat his driveway last January.
"I said, ‘There is nothing wrong with the driveway.’ He said, ‘Well when we put this coating on there will be no cracks, no like little holes in the driveway and stuff,’" said Norm.
Norm said Mitchell was persistent, and agreed to pay him $31 to coat the entire driveway.
But Mitchell tried to charge him $31 a gallon for 72 gallons.
Norm refused to pay and Mitchell left.
“It's a lousy job, anybody can see that. I wouldn't (have given) them 32 cents for that job,” said Norm.
Most of the mixture has already washed away because of the rain. A 90-year-old DeBary woman, did end up falling for the scheme, and paid Mitchell $3,000.
“I don't think there is anything in the world that could boil your blood more than have a scumbag like this floating around, perpetrating this type of crime and exploiting our elderly residents,” said Sheriff Michael Chitwood.
Chitwood said Mitchell may be connected to a burglary in Port Orange.
The sheriff hopes to bring a statewide case against Mitchell if he is caught.
Chitwood said another Volusia County woman fell victim to the scheme.
“We want this to be a statewide prosecution. We don’t want it to be a Volusia case, or an Osceola case, we want to get a statewide prosecutor so that if we get him, he suffers the maximum penalty,” said Chitwood.
He said while the incidents happened months ago, it took a while to get out the information about Mitchell.
“Frauds take a while to really wind down,” he said. “We got to get an expert to go out and look at the driveway and we had to get a financial analyst in there.”
Cox Media Group
