FOUR ARRESTED IN ROOFING SCAM

  

Four Houston men are in custody, charged with an elaborate insurance scam.

Brenham Police are working with Austin County to investigate the scam that appeared to target elderly women.

Police were contacted by a victim of the scam on Monday and were told that four men had come to her home to repair her roof, telling her they were from her insurance company.

Det. John Snowden says the victim had actually contacted her insurance company, so when the four men showed up, she thought they were legitimate.

After they’d claimed to have repaired the roof, they demanded $9,600 in payment.

Snowden says further investigation led to another local victim of the same scam.

While Brenham Police were working the local cases, they were notified by Austin County that the four Houston men were in custody. Evidence indicates the men have been using the same scam across Central and East Texas.

Industry State Bank had contacted authorities that two suspects at the bak were attempting to cash checks on one of the bank customers and two other suspects were waiting outside.

They were then informed that the customer had frozen their bank account prior to the suspects attempting to cash their checks.

All four suspects were then arrested and transported to the Austin County Jail.

The four men arrested were 27-year old Geno John; 20-year old Mike Paul John; 19-year old Vinney John; and 26-year old Steve Green.

Brenham authorities have charged them with engaging in organized criminal activity, a third degree felony.

Austin County has charged them with theft from an elderly individual, a state jail felony.

Bond has been set at $350,000 each between the two agencies.

Anyone in the county who may have been impacted by this scam or have any information should contact the Washington County Sheriff’s Office at 979-277-6200. Snowden can be reached at 979-337-7322.