Cops Want Charges In $13,000 Tree Scam Sheriff’s Detectives Concerned Others May Have Been Victimized

After spending most of his life in North Idaho, 86-year-old Mr. Johnson is the kind of man who takes people at their word.

Investigators believe scam artists took advantage of that trust by charging him more than $13,000 for bug spraying they never did.

Kootenai County sheriff’s detectives are concerned that others also may have been victimized.

“They came and looked at the trees and they said they should be sprayed,” Johnson said Friday. “Sometimes you see somebody coming and you think they’re reliable. You think they know what they’re doing.”

Detectives asked that Johnson’s first name not be used to prevent him from being further victimized.

Kootenai County sheriff’s Detective Ken Sopher has asked the prosecutor to file grand theft charges against Raymond C. Pittman, 37, of Spokane; Roy G. Hammond, 35, of Spokane; and James P. Pollock, 24, of Rathdrum.

Although two of the men could not be reached for comment, Hammond denied the accusations.

“We sprayed those trees,” Hammond said.

Sopher said that on Oct. 30 last year, two men arrived at the home where Johnson has lived since 1959. Johnson and his wife used to share the tidy house encircled by trees until she died two years ago.

The men told Johnson that the trees along the side of his house were infested with mites and needed to be sprayed. Johnson agreed to the work.

“I was trusting enough I took them at their word,” Johnson said Friday.

They charged him $5,840, Sopher said.

A few days later, on Nov. 6, the two men returned, claiming the work wasn’t finished. This time they charged Johnson $2,400, Sopher said.

Then, on March 20, three men arrived at Johnson’s home. Johnson said he didn’t intend to pay them any more money but one of them presented himself as a government inspector.

They charged him another $5,000.

A bank teller who knew Johnson became suspicious when the men tried to cash the last check.

Post Falls Police stopped the men a short time later. The men admitted charging Johnson for the spraying but gave back $2,500 because they said they hadn’t completed the job, Sopher said.

Sopher now suspects the men never sprayed the trees at all. “Nobody saw them do it and there was no odor of chemicals,” Sopher said.

Sopher said he talked to officials with a legitimate bug spraying company. The three jobs should have cost only $210, he said.

And “They advised that adult trees away from houses do not need to be sprayed for mites,” Sopher said.

But on Friday, Hammond insisted he only went to Johnson’s house one time - in March. He says he offered to trim the trees and spray them for box elder bugs.

Although Hammond said box elder bugs are not harmful to trees, he said they are a nuisance.

Hammond admitted he didn’t get around to trimming the trees but said he planned to come back until police started pestering him.

When asked about the unusually high price, he said, “It’s just what I charge.”

Sopher said he believes the men targeted Johnson because he is elderly. And, “He is a really good-hearted person and he takes people at face value,” Sopher said.

The detective urged people to check into the businesses they contract with and to steer clear of contractors they don’t know.

After his experience, Johnson encouraged others to go to police if salespeople or contractors offering to do work seem suspicious.

“I want to keep others from being hooked,” Johnson said.

Anyone who believes they may have been scammed should call their local police agency, Sopher said.

, DataTimes