Two Va. men ran 'getting granny' scheme, feds say
By: Freeman Klopott
Examiner Staff Writer
October 26, 2009
Federal prosecutors have accused two Virginia men of swindling elderly women in Vienna and Fairfax by charging them for home repairs that were not needed and never performed.
According to court documents, Donald Norcross and Donald Ray Best Jr. called it "getting granny" or "granny ripping." In this case, authorities say, Norcross and Best convinced at least two women -- ages 77 and 86 -- that they needed sewage and electrical work done on their home and charged them more than $20,000. They sometimes posed as employees of utility companies; the work was neither needed nor performed.
On Jan. 19, Norcross and Best allegedly told a 77-year-old woman in Fairfax that they needed to collect for sewer work they claimed was being done by the city in front of the woman's home, the indictment filed in Alexandria's federal court said. The woman, referred to only as "J.P." in court documents, gave the men an $8,300 check with a memo indicating it was for "pipework."
Two days later, Norcross and Best returned, authorities said, this time with a tractor to complete the "pipework." They allegedly demanded more cash for sewer work, and the 77-year-old woman handed them two checks, one for $10,000, another for $5,000.
On Feb. 25, Norcorss met with "G.D.," an 86-year-old woman in Vienna. According to the indictment, Norcross again claimed to be working for the sewer company. He allegedly told the elderly woman there was a water leak in her yard and it needed to be repaired. The woman wrote Norcross a $2,800 check with a memo for "water damage."
A month later, Norcross again approached "G.D." allegedly telling the 86-year-old that her sewer pump needed to be fixed, authorities said. The woman gave Norcross another $2,800 check made payable to an unnamed co-conspirator with "for Fairfax water & sewer" in parenthesis. The memo on the check said "Repair Sewer Water Pump."
The men cashed the checks at check-cashing businesses and not banks because they "knew from experience that these facilities would cash the numerous, large checks the conspirators obtained from elderly homeowners," according to authorities.
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