By Linda Taaffe

Los Altos police arrested a Merced man last week who allegedly scammed an 82-year-old Los Altos woman out of $650 earlier this year for roofing repairs that he never performed.

Police caught suspect Adam Jonah Waldrop in his red pickup truck July 2 after the alleged con man returned to the Los Altos woman’s Benvenue Avenue home looking for more “work.”

Waldrop, 23, had a $999,999 warrant for his arrest in Merced for a probation violation and similar warrants in Oregon, said Los Altos Police Sgt. Tom Connelly, who spotted Waldrop driving past him with tools and a bucket of shingles in the back of his truck.

Police believe that Waldrop is connected to additional scams in other states. He faces charges of grand theft, fiduciary elder abuse and contracting without a license. Connelly said Oregon state officials could extradite Waldrop.

Connelly described Waldrop as a “gypsy,” who travels the country, probably working the same scam. Connelly said Waldrop has used at least 13 aliases. When arrested last week, Waldrop was using the name Billy Thomas Wilson, Connelly said.

The Los Altos woman first reported Waldrop to police last February after he and another man came to her home posing as a father-son contracting team soliciting door to door in her neighborhood. The duo offered to clean her gutters for an unusually low price, she said. After they cleaned the gutters, they told her that the gutters had holes and needed to be patched.

When they had finished patching the gutters, one of the men was holding a shingle from the woman’s roof and informed her that the roof needed repairs, the resident told police.

The men charged the woman $650 for three cases of shingles to patch an area that needed only five shingles to repair, police said.

Police said frequently small teams of con artists will target a community, approaching single or elderly residents.

They offer to do roofing, asphalt or other home repairs at a great discount. The work is often shoddy, and in most cases all that is ever done is a light application of paint or tar that washes away after the first rain.

Police remind residents always to ask to see the contractor’s license before agreeing to have home repairs done; get all agreements in writing; and be cautious of “repairmen” going door-to-door offering to do work at low prices.

Community Service Officer Rod Sayre said a city ordinance prohibits solicitors from going door-to-door asking for money. The city does grant non-profit groups a special permit that allows them to sell goods in residential areas.

The permit is good for two weeks, and the person must carry the permit while soliciting residents.

Los Altos police are investigating whether Waldrop has scammed other Los Altos residents.

Connelly described Waldrop as 6 feet tall, 190 pounds with green eyes, brown hair and an “unforgettable smile.”

If you believe that you have been Waldrop’s victim, call Sgt. Tom Connelly at the Los Altos Police Department at 948-8223.