HAVERHILL — A man wanted in connection with an alleged scam on the elderly was arrested yesterday in Maine and brought to Haverhill to face charges.
Michael Mills, 28, of Arundel, Maine, was arrested by police on a warrant and brought to the station for booking at 1:35 p.m. yesterday on charges of larceny over $250 and a bylaw violation.
Mills, along with two alleged accomplices, Edmond Wormwood, 33, of Biddeford, Maine, and Billy Adams, 34, of Saco, Maine, are being charged with scamming up to $90,000 from two Haverhill people, including an elderly Haverhill man and his 70-year-old daughter, who are both mentally handicapped.
The scam allegedly occurred between Feb. 15 and April 6. Wormwood and Adams were arrested April 15 by state police in Maine on a warrant issued in Haverhill. They have already been arraigned and their cases are pending.
According to Assistant District Attorny John DePaulo, the three men approached the victims in February and offered to do handyman work around their house. He said the men charged $8,000 to clear out a basement, a job that took five hours.
The men also charged similar amounts for painting the house and cutting down a tree, which they said was in danger of falling, DePaulo said. The amount taken was at least $77,000 and could be as much as $90,000 for similar small work done during a six-week period, DePaulo said.
He said the two victims are mentally handicapped and rarely leave their house, except to go to the hospital or to rehabilitation programs.
DePaulo said the work at the Haverhill home was "shoddily done."
The family's back deck and shed both had paint peeling just a couple of days after being painted and the basement had barely been cleaned after the men were down there for five hours, DePaulo said.
Mills will be arraigned today in Haverhill District Court.
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More on this story in tomorrow's editions of The Eagle-Tribune.
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