Wanted couple arrested in Catoosa County after running multiple driveway paving scams
A couple wanted in Catoosa County for allegedly attempting to run driveway paving scams on elderly people have been arrested, police say.
According to the Catoosa County Sheriff’s Department:
34-yearold Rosemary Susie Frame of Texas and 25-year-old Willie Anthony Jeffery of Illinois were arrested Sept. 6 on charges of conspiracy to commit a crime and theft by deception.
As of Friday, Jeffery had been released from jail on bond, while Frame remained incarcerated with bond set at $5,000.
The couple landed on the law enforcement radar after they approached an older lady, offered to do some work on her driveway, and then made off with way more money than they initially agreed to.
Sheriff’s deputies were dispatched to the Capital Bank in Fort Oglethorpe on Aug. 25 after a woman complained that the couple had swindled her.
The woman claimed that around 10:30 a.m. the previous day, the couple approached her home and offered to re-seal her driveway for $300.
After the work was completed, the lady claims, Jeffery told her the work would cost $2,250 instead of the agreed upon $300.
The 78-year-old victim then reluctantly wrote the couple a check in the amount of $2,250.
After circulating photos of the couple, sheriff’s detectives learned that the duo had been running similar scams recently in the North Georgia/Chattanooga, Tenn. area,
reports show.
On Tuesday, Sept. 6, the couple was caught in the act running the same scam on an elderly Ringgold woman on Tennessee Street.
Both the Catoosa County Sheriff’s Department and Ringgold police showed up on the scene after the woman had written a check for more than $2,000.
“Both agencies were there to make the arrests,” said Ringgold
Police Chief Dan Bilbrey. “This couple is wanted in multiple states all the way from Texas out this way for running these types of scams on people.”
Bilbrey said that in addition to the scam, the “work” really wasn’t credible work
after all.
“They’d say they were going to refinish the driveway, but they actually put a high-gloss paint on the driveway,” Bilbrey said. “They got some of the paint in the yard around the driveway also and killed the
grass.”
Anyone with information about the couple, their scams, or knowledge of other potential victims, is encouraged to call detective Mike Helton with the Catoosa County Sheriff’s Department at 706-935-2424.