The Kennebec Journal

March 18

Police arrest pair in reported scam

By Amy Calder acalder@mainetoday.com
Staff Writer

WATERVILLE -- Police arrested two men Tuesday and are looking for a third man in connection with what they said are scams against older people.

The men reportedly were knocking on doors and asking to rake, trim trees and seal driveways and then perform inadequate work, according to police Chief Joseph Massey. In one case, one of the men reportedly stole 40-milligram OxyContin pills, Massey said.

"You want to be very suspicious of contractors who approach you to do work and they want to start immediately," Massey said Wednesday. "It's just amazing. There's always somebody willing to steal you blind in a heartbeat."

Arrested Tuesday were Jason Donald Bolduc, 32, of Kennebunk, and Jean Louise Beaulieu, 39, of Biddeford. Both were charged with violation of seller's performance, a law that requires contractors to wait three days before doing work to give customers time to cancel a contract. The men also were summonsed for a second charge of violating a contract, and Bolduc was summonsed and charged with stealing drugs, Massey said.

Additionally, Beaulieu was charged with violation of conditions of release. District Attorney Evert Fowle said Wednesday that he later was charged with violation of consumer sales solicitation and violation of registration, as he was not registered to do such work in Maine.

Beaulieu pleaded not guilty Wednesday to the charges and is scheduled to appear again in court for a hearing April 28.

"He's got a long record," Fowle said. That record includes pending theft and forgery charges; probation for aggravated criminal mischief, eluding an officer and operating under the influence; and probation in New Hampshire for numerous traffic violations, OUI and operating after suspension, Fowle said.

Police got a call around 10:30 a.m. Saturday from a resident who said he had been scammed on yard work and that one of the contractors stole some of his medication, Massey said.

Officer Steve Brame talked to the resident who said someone had come to his door and offered to charge $400 to trim branches against the house, Massey said.

After the man accepted, Massey said, the contractor came into the house, sat down, talked about the man's dog and said he had a similar dog. The contractor also picked up a bottle of pills on the table that were prescribed for the resident, asked if they were for his dog, and said his own dog took similar pills, Massey said.

When the contractor went outside to work, a friend of the resident stopped by to check on him and asked what the men were doing in the yard, Massey said.

"He (resident) told him, 'I think I'm missing some medication,'" Massey said.

The friend went outside and asked where the medication was. One of the men went over to the truck, took out the bottle of OxyContin, gave it back and said the man in the house had given him the pills for his dog. There were 19 pills missing from the bottle of 45 pills, according to Massey.

At that point, the contractors said they were going to give the resident a break on the tree work, charged him $225, and made out a receipt, Massey said. They left and the man's friend called police, he said.

Brame sent an e-mail to other officers, asking them to be on the lookout for a white box truck the men were using, Massey said.

On Tuesday, about mid-morning, Officer Timothy Hinton saw a matching truck and three men nearby sealing a driveway for a 90-year-old man, Massey said.

One of the three men fled when he saw police, he said; another produced a receipt for the work the men did Saturday for the other man.

Brame and Hinton obtained several receipts for yard work the men reportedly did in Maine and New Hampshire, Massey said.

Meanwhile, the 90-year-old man said the men started doing the driveway sealing immediately after he agreed to have it done, police say.

Massey said the tree-trimming work they did on Saturday did not appear to be worth the $225 the man paid for the work. Brame said they cut only six or seven branches down, according to Massey.

Police later identified Bolduc as the contractor who went into the house on Saturday, allegedly took the pills and later signed the work receipt. He was summonsed for stealing drugs, a Class C felony, Massey said. Beaulieu was identified as the man who retrieved the bottle of pills from the contractors' truck, Massey said.

Beaulieu remains in Kennebec County Jail in Augusta; Bolduc was released from the Police Department Tuesday on $1,000 unsecured bail and is scheduled to appear in Waterville District Court on July 6.

Both Fowle and Massey asked anyone who thinks he or she has been scammed to call the Police Department at 680-4700.

"Oftentimes when something like this comes to our attention, we only get the tip of the iceberg," Fowle said.

Fowle started a program in Kennebec and Somerset counties to educate health care facility workers and others about scams targeting the elderly. The program takes inventory of every case in which a victim is older than 60, and those cases receive heightened scrutiny, Fowle said.

Amy Calder -- 861-9247

acalder@centralmaine.com