MAITLAND, Fla. — Maitland police say a couple used a tree service to take advantage of an 85-year-old woman twice.
But thanks to some alert bank tellers, police caught at least one of the suspects.
Tellers at the elderly woman's bank told police they thought something might be wrong when the woman came in a second time to withdraw thousands of dollars to pay some bills.
The woman told Channel 9's Janine Reyes that the tellers wouldn't give her the money.
Raw: Woman talks about tree service
She said her troubles started when Sony Hadden and John Hadden offered her a helping hand with work around her property.
She said they took her to her bank to withdraw money to remove a tree, which she was afraid might fall, hitting her shed and house.
An arrest affidavit said they asked her to take out $5,000.
She said the Haddens told her that the tree was so large they would need more cash.
She said they took her back to the bank, where they wanted her to withdraw another $3,000.
"Did you realize before the teller told you something that they might be taking advantage of you?" Reyes asked the woman.
That is when a bank teller called police, who came and took the woman home.
"Of course, but what should I do? I needed the trees taken care of," the woman said.
Two weeks after her first payment the Haddens hadn't done any work, so police called a tree trimming company that looked at the tree and gave an estimate of $400 to trim the tree. The company said there was no need for the removal tree.
Police arrested Sony Hadden, and said in the affidavit that several elderly people have alleged they were exploited by the couple.
The woman has not had her $5,000 returned to her, but said she is glad tellers kept her from handing over $3,000 more.
The woman alleges that in 2013 a man by the name of Kenneth Caron took her for $20,000.
She said he told her he ran a company called Unique Tree Service.
The Haddens told officers they run a company called CAS Tree Service.
Reyes found that neither of those names are listed as a business.
"I don't know what that company was. I'm afraid of companies now," the woman told Reyes.
The woman said she didn't know Hadden and Caron are co-defendants in a case where they are charged with exploiting the elderly.
She said that after being taken twice, she's afraid.
"I'm a little apprehensive of retaliation," she told Reyes.
Police said they believe the Haddens were involved in that same scam last year involving the 85-year-old woman and involving the same tree.
They said they believe the couple might be involved in similar incidents in Winter Park, Maitland and Seminole County.
WFTV
