GREENSBORO – A Rocky Mount man was arrested this morning after police said he attempted to defraud an elderly woman by tearing a large hole in her roof and trying to charge her for the repairs.At 11:30 a.m., Greensboro police were called to 608 Wicker St. after a man said he believed two men were there attempting to defraud his mother.Carlton Ramm said his mother, 91-year-old Frances Ramm, was approached by two men while out trimming bushes in her yard.He said the men claimed there was a small problem with his mother’s chimney and offered to repair it for about $15. The woman agreed, but police believe the men got on the roof and started tearing away shingles around the chimney and created a 2-foot-by-4-foot hole.Carlton Ramm said he called his mother about the same time and she told him about the men working on the house and became suspicious.He said the men told his mother the small repair was much worse than they originally thought and that it would cost $1,200 for the repairs. The son called police.Police arrived and arrested the two men on site, though only one was charged in the incident.Cedric Renwood Pierce, 57, of Rocky Mount was arrested and charged with obtaining property by false pretense, malicious damage to personal property and exploitation of an elderly person, said Lt. Hope Newkirk of Greensboro police.A second man, 38-year-old Randall Scott Weeks, Pierce’s alleged accomplice, was arrested on an outstanding fraud charge on unrelated case, but was not charged in this morning’s incident.The men were taken to the Guilford County jail in Greensboro and their bonds were not immediately available.Carlton Ramm said his mother never gave the men any money and that a contractor estimated the damage to the home at about $700 to repair.Police said their investigation is ongoing and they are trying to determine whether the men are connected to any similar schemes targeting the elderly in the area.Anyone with further information or who may have been targeted or victimized in a similar scheme is encouraged to call Greensboro police at 373-2255.
http://www.news-record.com/content/2010/09/22/article/man_charged_in_roofing_scheme_targeting_elderly
